Mine
by xxodanielle
Summary: Almost two years after saving the world, Danny Fenton is perfectly happy in his relationship with Sam Manson, that is, until a desperate girl who can't take no for an answer starts stalking him and places his relationship in jeopardy.
1. Chapter One: The L Word

**Chapter One**

Danny lay on the roof of his house, gazing up at the stars in the evening sky with an intrigued smile plastered on his face. "I'll never stop thinking that stars are a beautiful and mesmerizing sight. For once, I feel like I can just relax and have some time to myself."

"Yeah, until we start school tomorrow," Sam murmured from her position beside him. Her chest rose and fell as she drew in a deep breath, draping her arm over her stomach and swiveling her head towards her boyfriend. "Juniors. Who would have known that time was going to go by in the blink of an eye?"

A soft chuckle trickled from Danny's mouth as the corners of his lips curved upward into a gentle smile. "I'm guessing Clockwork." The response he received from the Goth came in the form of laughter, making his heart melt at how beautiful the sound was. "We've really been growing up. Next year, we'll be seniors."

"And being seniors means that the chances of girls wanting me increases." Tucker rolled onto his stomach and whipped out his PDA from his back pocket, oblivious to the strange looks that his two best friends were now flashing him. "For now, though, there's only one girl for me."

Sam scoffed and crossed her arms behind her head, panning her eyes around the sky. "I hope you mean Valerie. You two have been ducking and dodging each other since the beginning of Sophomore year. Just confess your feelings already."

"You're one to talk. That's the exact same advice I gave you and Danny Freshmen year."

"I know this is the part where I'm supposed to blush, but I've already cancelled my subscription to your horrible teasing about a year ago."

Danny smiled at the pair and closed his eyes briefly. "Guys," he intervened, "let's just enjoy our last night of freedom before we're doomed to five days of homework and teachers again."

"I can't help but wonder who our teachers are going to be this year." Tucker parted his lips and let out a yawn before tucking his PDA back into his pocket. "It kind of sucks that we didn't get to meet them the day we picked up our schedules."

"Yeah." Sam's gaze fell from the sky and onto Tucker with a long sigh. "With the exception of Lancer, of course. I hate that Danny didn't make it into English Honors with us, but I also hate that we both don't have Lancer as our teacher this year."

Danny shifted and leaned upward into a sitting position. "True, but now that he knows my secret, it makes ghost fighting before his class a lot easier. Plus, I get to use it as an excuse for being late so that I can catch a few extra minutes of sleep."

"You wouldn't need a few extra minutes of sleep if you lovebirds didn't keep each other up at night," Tucker quipped. He looked towards the sky again, admiring the stars and smiling once the couple beside him fell into an uncomfortable silence. "I'm just kidding."

Sam's fist roughly contacted his shoulder as she sat up, causing him to yelp from the impact. "That's what you get for insinuating that we would do anything sexual at this age." The corners of her lips rose into a twisted smirk as she watched Tucker rub his sore shoulder and grumble to himself. "I really hope that hurt, by the way."

Danny decided to intervene at that moment to prevent her from throttling the poor boy. He reached over and curled his fingers around her shoulders, restraining her from moving closer to him. "Easy, Sam. Down, girl. Try not to kill him before his birthday."

"But it's not until next month," she protested with a frown. Danny's hands trailed from her shoulders and down her arms before sliding into his lap. She craned her neck in Tucker's direction and lifted an eyebrow at him. "Have you decided what you wanted to do, by the way?"

He hummed thoughtfully and flicked his eyes to the top of their sockets. "No, not really. I mean, I wanted to have a small birthday party with you guys, but I do that every year. I kind of wanted a change, you know?" Sam and Danny nodded simultaneously. "I'll be sixteen. I want it to be special."

"Duly noted, but when you say special, do you mean with more people or a different setting?" Sam asked, crossing her legs and resting her palms on her thighs. "I know spending your birthday with the same two people every year eventually starts to suck."

Tucker scoffed and whisked his hand through the air dismissively. "I don't care about that. I love spending my birthday with you guys. It's just becoming tedious, you know? The exact same routine. Hopefully this school year brings something different."

"Yeah," Danny murmured, "hopefully." The trio lapsed into a comfortable silence for several minutes, each of them losing themselves in their own thoughts. Maddie's voice cut through the silence, however, as she stepped out onto the roof and announced to Sam that her parents wanted her to start heading home.

"And so it begins," she mumbled. She rose to her feet and stretched out her arms as Danny followed suit, mouthing to his mother that he could handle taking her home. The woman smiled warmly and shuffled back towards the house, leaving the teens alone once again.

Tucker stood as well and twisted his body towards Danny. "I should also get going." He tugged on his sleeve and glanced down at his wristwatch. "It's almost nine-thirty and I just know that my parents are going to force me to go to bed early tonight."

"Same. You'd think getting older means that our curfew gets extended." Sam slung her hair over her shoulder and turned to face Danny. "No need to walk me home, ghost boy. I've got myself tonight."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Yeah right. There's no way I'm letting you walk home by yourself. What if something happens to you?" Tucker narrowed his eyes and folded his arms over his chest, huffing offensively.

"I guess I'm not standing right here." His brows lowered as Sam chuckled and draped her arm across his shoulders, guiding him to the door that led to the inside of Danny's house. Danny followed behind at a distance, observing the two and smiling slightly.

"Okay, Casanova, I know you can get any girl you want, but that one's off limits." He walked forward and was about to snake his arm around Sam's waist until a blue wisp trickled past his lips. Tucker averted his gaze onto the Halfa and shook his head at him.

"And I know you can capture any ghost you want, so that one's all yours." He stood there and watched as Danny started to transform. Sam retracted her arm from around his shoulders and moved her hand to her jutted out hip, smiling once her favorite pair of glowing green eyes drilled into hers.

"Care to assist me, beautiful?" He flattened his hand and extended his palm outward, motioning for her to take his hand. With a bright smile, she accepted his gesture, placing her hand on top of his and lacing her fingers with his.

"I'd be honored." She rolled her head to the right and eyed Tucker as he stood near the exit of the roof. "Tuck?" He hummed once and looked over at her. He seemed distracted, which was odd because he wasn't on his PDA. "Aren't you coming along?"

He puffed out his lower lip and waved her off politely. "Nah." She cocked her head at him questionably, but he merely jabbed his thumb towards the exit and rolled his eyes. "I'm going to have my parents pick me up. Like I said before, they're probably going to force me to sleep earlier than usual. Tonight's actually a school night now."

Though Sam looked dubious, Danny seemed to buy his excuse. As he started to walk away, she called out for him to stop, to which he immediately complied. "Wait for me." She shifted towards Danny, who could only stare at her with a puzzled expression. "Mind if I keep him company while you go handle the ghost?"

His features relaxed and his lips tugged upward into a sincere smile. "Not at all. Keep each other safe and call me if you run into any trouble." He leaned over and pressed his lips against Sam's forehead, leaving a cool feeling there as he drew apart from her. "I love you."

Her eyes enlarged and she visibly tensed, which didn't go unnoticed by either of the boys. "I, uh, really like you, too," she responded tentatively. Danny inhaled and exhaled deeply before bidding the two goodnight. He pivoted and crouched down before leaping up into the sky, leaving Sam to mentally kick herself.

Tucker studied her for a full minute before asking, "What was that? I didn't know you guys already started dropping the 'L' word." However, the strained expression that crossed her face told him that she was the only one in the relationship who wasn't returning the 'L' word.

"I haven't been," she admitted softly. Tucker rose an eyebrow and followed after her once she started to walk forward a bit. "He keeps saying it to me and I never say it back. It's not that I don't feel the same way, you know? It's just..."

"What, are you afraid?" Sam shook her head at him and continued down into Danny's house. "Most people don't say those three words because they're afraid of something. Try letting go of whatever's holding you back from saying it. It's either fear or you don't love him back, and knowing the chemistry between you two, it's the first one."

"I'm not exactly afraid. It's just," she paused and leaned her shoulder against a nearby wall, "those words hold a lot of weight. I'm worried that if I say them, then I'm giving away my power and making myself vulnerable. Plus, I'm not ready to get hurt. Tuck, this is Junior year, and he's even more in the spotlight by being an upperclassman. A Danny Phantom upperclassman at that. Who's to say he isn't going to go gaga over someone else?"

Tucker pursed his lips together and nodded his head slightly. "Ah, insecurities." They remained silent as they passed through the house, both saying goodnight to Maddie and Jack before exiting through the front door. Continuing down the sidewalk that led away from Danny's house, Tucker resumed speaking. "You've never been one to let anything hold you back. Danny would never do that to you. You know he's crazy about you."

"I guess." Sam kicked a rock that was in her path, watching as it tumbled down the sidewalk before rolling to a halt. "I always show him that I love him, but for some darned reason, I can't say it. It's so weird."

"Well, think about it like this. You said you can't say those words back to him because it makes you feel vulnerable and like you have no more power, right?" Sam hummed her confirmation. "Well, he already said it, which means that he gave up his power and vulnerability for you. You can do the same."

The Goth frowned and dipped her gaze towards the ground. She knew he had a point, but she wasn't going to admit that to him. "Yeah, well, I don't want to talk about me anymore." She glanced over at him and curled her brows together, forming a wrinkle in the center. "I thought you said your parents were picking you up."

Tucker brought his hand to the nape of his neck and rubbed it sheepishly. "Truth be told, I only said that so you guys could give me some alone time." He let his hand flop back down to his side. "I was going to walk home and think about some stuff, but your company works, too, Sammy."

"For the sake of your shins, my boots and I are going to pretend that we didn't hear you call me that." Sam pulled her gaze from him and flicked her eyes outward, staring at the buildings ahead of them. "What's bothering you? I know you tell Danny everything, but don't forget that I'm your best friend as well."

"I know that, but don't worry about me." Tucker flashed her a reassuring smile and inhaled through his nostrils. "I'm just curious what this school year is going to be like, especially for me and Valerie."

Sam moved her arms behind her back and locked her wrists together. "Hopefully Technus pops up again to push you two together this time." The recollection of Valerie and Danny being together back then still pained her a bit, but she decided that making light jokes about it would help her move past it. "If not, there's always fate."

"True, but I guess we'll just have to see where the school year takes all of us. You know, relationship wise." Tucker's lips formed a small circle as he blew out a long breath of air and crossed the street with Sam in tow. "It'll be one hell of a circus," he continued.

"Please. Our lives have been a circus since we were fourteen, but that's what makes it enjoyable. Besides, how bad could this year possibly be?"

* * *

"Psst. Wake up, Sam."

Said girl slowly cracked her eyelids open at the mention of her name. The first thing she noticed, however, was a familiar pair of icy blue eyes that were a little too close to her face. Startled, she jolted upright, tousled hair cascading down her back as she did so.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." As Danny launched into profuse apologies, she swiftly dragged her eyes towards the alarm clock beside her on the nightstand. The red numbers 'five-four-five' stared back at her, and for several seconds, she could only glare incredulously at the clock.

"You really woke me up fifteen minutes before I actually had to get up?" Danny closed his mouth for a second before tilting his head to the side and nodding at her. She groaned and collapsed back onto her bed, grabbing her pillow and moving it over her head. "I'm sleeping until six."

"Come on, Sammy. If I'm awake, you're awake." Danny tried to take her pillow away from her, but she had a firm grip on it, which made it difficult at first. That's when he phased it out of her grasp and flung it across the room with a triumphant smirk. "You're not going to win."

Sam's lashes swept upward as she slid her eyelids open once again. "How is it that you've been in my room more than anyone else, yet you're oblivious to the amount of pillows I have on my bed?" With that, she grabbed one of her spare pillows from beside her and dropped it over her face. "You're not going to win."

"You're leaving me no choice," Danny warned her playfully, but she disregarded his threat and started to fake snore. He flattened his palm against her blanket and phased it off of her before curling his arms around her waist and lifting her up from the bed. She gasped and protested, but it fell on deaf ears as he carried her over to her bathroom.

"Danny, put me down!" She made sure that her voice wasn't loud enough to disturb her parents, but sounded harsh enough to come off as menacing to Danny. It seemed to work, as he set her down on her feet and stepped back when she tried to smack him a couple of times. "Why are you up so early?"

"Why would I want to be late on the first day of school? First impressions are everything," he responded, raising his forefinger to his temple and tapping it twice. "Besides, aside from all the ghosts that popped up last night, I was too anxious to sleep."

"Because of school?" The last remnants of sleep finally dissipated and was replaced by sarcasm as Sam leaned up on her toes, pressing the back of her hand against his forehead. "You're not running a fever, so why are you excited for school, Danny Fenton?"

Danny laughed a bit and gently pushed her hand away from him. "Knock it off." She smiled at him and spun on her heels, walking over to her dresser to gather her school clothes. "It's just a different setting with different people. I can't help but feel excited and a little curious. Maybe the freshmen will be just like we were at their age."

"Joy," Sam drawled. She fished out a black shirt from her drawer and stared at it for a few seconds, trying to decide whether or not she liked it enough to wear it that day. "I get to watch a young army of Paulina look-alikes swoon over you. I'm internally throwing up rainbows of excitement."

Danny's face contorted into a grimace and he tightened his fingers around the edge of her bed. "Has anyone ever told you that you can certainly paint a picture with your words?"

"Only once or twice." Sam gathered her clothes and her toiletries before trudging towards her bathroom, but before she could enter, Danny stepped in front of her and stopped her. She took a step back, eyebrow arched expectantly.

"I love you," he told her, "and I totally respect the fact that you're not ready to say it back. I can manage without it, just as long as you know that—"

She cut him off by closing her eyes and touching her lips to his gently. It was an action so simple, yet it was just enough to send her heart into a frenzy. He returned the kiss with the same amount of energy, sliding his hand up from the nape of her neck and tangling it in her hair.

She then pulled away and tipped her head down, pressing her forehead to his and closing her eyes briefly. "I know. I'll be able to say it one day, so try and be patient with me. I just want to be sure, you know? Those aren't words I can give away easily, but it doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the fact that you're saying it to me."

Danny's eyes seemed to caress hers with how much comfort and tenderness they held. The corners of his lips slid upward and he moved his hands to her shoulders. "Don't explain yourself. Whenever you're ready, you'll say it, but that doesn't mean I'll stop. I love you. Take your time."

And then he clasped his arms around her and pulled her into the perfect embrace. It felt tight, warm, and protective, all of which caused her to smile and squeeze her arms around him. "Thanks, Danny. I didn't mean to spoil your mood this morning."

"Oh, I wouldn't say it's spoiled on my side." He leaned away from her and slightly bent his knees, locking his arms around her legs and lifting her up over his shoulder. She almost gasped at the sudden action, but she managed to slap her free hand over her mouth to suppress anything that threatened to slip out.

"Danny Fenton," she ground out quietly, "put me down! I hate when you do this." He simply ignored her and continued parading around the room with her over his shoulder. She hated that he was much taller and much stronger than he used to be because those advantages made it much easier for him to pull such stunts with her when he wasn't in his ghost form.

She writhed around until he finally lost his balance and tumbled onto the bed. As soon as his back dropped against the mattress, she climbed on top of him and straddled him, pinning his arms above his head. "Bet you weren't expecting that."

"Bet you weren't expecting this." And just like that, Danny phased out of her grip, rendering himself invisible as he did so. Surprised and now on edge, Sam leaned upright and darted her eyes around the room. He appeared next to her seconds later, tackling her back down onto the bed with a low growl.

"Okay, okay," she rolled her eyes, "you win. Let me start getting ready for school before my parents burst in here with some cringe, overbearing good morning speech for me."

"Yeah, true." Danny released his hands from her wrists and moved backwards to give her room to sit up. As she did, she spun around and planted her feet on the floor. "I stopped by to wake you up, so now I'm going to go wake up Tucker."

"Why couldn't he be first?" she pouted half-heartedly. She retrieved her forgotten bag of toiletries and her school clothes before motioning him over to her with her forefinger. He immediately got up and walked towards her with a small smirk plastered on his face.

"I'll be back to get you after I stop by my house with Tucker. I would come get you first, but I already know that your parents are going to want to take pictures of you on your first day of eleventh grade," he told her, laughing once she rolled her eyes again and groaned.

"They claim to only take those pictures for memories, but I'm pretty sure they're taking them just in case I go missing. Trust me." She leaned up on her toes and pecked him on the lips, lightly grazing her fingers across his chest. As soon as she stepped back, she turned over her shoulder and walked towards her bathroom, lingering her gaze on him as she did so.

"I've got to be the luckiest guy in the world," Danny murmured to himself once Sam shut the bathroom door and locked it. After twisting around on his heels and leaping into the air, he phased through her ceiling and took off into the sky.


	2. Chapter Two: First Day Of Junior Year

**Chapter Two**

Danny walked down the hallway of Casper High towards his third period classroom, internally groaning once he realized that the subject he was going to have to endure next was Algebra. Prior to that was English, which was a bit tedious without Sam and Tucker there with him.

Block schedule seemed to be working out well for him so far. He had much more time to complete homework from each of his classes, which was a big help when it came to fighting ghosts. The only downside was that the class he had so far seemed drawn out, but only because it was the first day of school and there wasn't much to cover in class besides the syllabus and rules.

He glanced down at his schedule, which he kept in his hand just in case his teacher wanted to check it at the door. The room number on the sheet of paper matched the classroom he was standing outside of, so he swung his gaze towards the older woman leaning in the doorway.

"Hello, young man," she greeted him politely, spreading her lips apart to reveal her bright set of teeth. "What's your name?"

He wasn't used to anyone asking for his name because he assumed everyone already knew him from the Disasteroid incident, but he cleared his throat regardless and answered her question. "Daniel Fenton."

The woman nodded slightly and downcast her eyes to search her roster for his name. He waited patiently, rocking on his heels and glancing up and down the hallway at random people passing by. "Welcome to my class, Mr. Fenton. Here." She stuck her hand inside of a ziplock bag on top of her clipboard and pulled out a name tag. Handing it to Danny with a smile, she instructed, "Put this on."

He didn't see the point in wearing a name tag, but that's not why he was hesitant to clip it onto his shirt. The name on the tag didn't match his at all, so he tried to hand it back to his teacher. "Excuse me, ma'am, this doesn't belong to me. Last time I checked, my name is Danny, not Alyssa."

"Well, first of all, sir, my name is Ms. Reyes," the woman corrected him. He swallowed and respectfully nodded at her as she continued to speak. "I gave you that name tag because you're going to need it when class starts. You're not supposed to have your own name tag."

Danny slanted his brows and wordlessly entered the classroom. He stuck the needle of his name tag through his shirt and secured it before wandering over to an empty seat near the back of the room. Dash was in his first period class, and while it was nice to see a familiar face, it was a little irritating having him be so clingy and jovial towards him. He could only hope that the boy wasn't in his current class.

Once the bell rang a few minutes later, he found himself sighing in relief when he didn't see Dash walk into the classroom. He didn't know anyone in his class, which was good for him because he wasn't much of a social person to strangers in the morning. Each student in the classroom was quiet because no one knew each other, which was good news for the teacher.

Ms. Reyes shut her classroom door and crossed the room, her nude high heels clacking noisily across the floor on her way towards the front board. "Good morning, students. My name is Ms. Reyes, and I will be your Algebra II teacher this school year. Before we dive into the syllabus and the class rules, how about we start a little icebreaker?"

Danny almost rolled his eyes at that moment. He didn't see the point in icebreakers, especially not in high school. He thought it was rare for a student to actually make a friend during them, but if participating in it meant that time would pass by quickly, then he was more than down for it.

"Each of you have a name tag that doesn't have your own name written on it," Ms. Reyes explained. "The point of this icebreaker is to find the student who has your name on their tag. You will then partner up with them for a little warm-up assignment that I have for you all today. Ready?"

Once the woman gave her students the green light to start moving, all of them rose from their seats and shuffled around the classroom to search for the mystery person wearing their name tag. Danny decided to hop in, figuring it would be much easier to do so rather than be hardheaded.

He searched almost everybody who passed by him, but nobody was wearing his name tag. He watched them all link up with their partners, but for some reason, he couldn't find his partner. Feeling slightly defeated several seconds later, he started to make his way over to his teacher, that is, until some girl accidentally bumped into him.

"Oh, sorry," he mumbled. He almost bypassed her completely until he realized that she was wearing a name tag with his name on it. "Wait, that's my name." He glanced down at his own tag with the girl's name on it and smiled at her gently. "I'm guessing this is your name."

"Yep. Alyssa." The girl unhooked the name tag from her shirt, returning a smile of her own as she handed it to Danny. He mirrored her actions, and the two quickly exchanged their temporary tags for their proper ones. "I'm surprised I have a class with Danny Phantom himself. I guess now I can tell you that what you did for the world about two years ago was amazing."

Danny looked down at the empty seat behind him near the front of the class before lowering himself into it. "Not like I had much of a choice, but thank you." Alyssa slung her wavy blonde hair over her shoulder and chuckled softly, helping herself to the empty seat behind him. "I've never seen you around. Are you new here, Alyssa?"

"Yeah. My first day here, actually. My old school is much bigger than this dump, but it's a new adjustment." Danny slightly twisted his body to the side so that he was now turned around and facing her. She leaned forward, sliding her elbows along the surface of the table. "The teachers here seem nicer, I'll admit."

Ms. Reyes cleared her throat, drawing attention from her students. Once all eyes were on her, she flashed a grin and locked her wrists behind her back. "I'm glad to see you all found your partners with no issues." Everybody then listened as she launched into a lengthy explanation of her classroom rules, which were pretty basic instructions that most of them learned in elementary school.

As she droned on about things nobody really cared about, Danny's eyes drifted towards the classroom door, where Sam was peeking in through the small window. As soon as they made eye contact, her face scrunched up into a very goofy expression that almost made him laugh out loud. Ms. Reyes, who only caught his reaction, glanced over to the door just after Sam ducked out of sight.

"—so, with that being said," the woman's voice cut back into focus, "I want you all to push your desks alongside your partner's. The person you are paired up with will be the permanent person sitting next to you for the remainder of the school year. Please, treat each other with respect."

As Danny stood up to move his desk next to Alyssa's, his eyes darted to the window of the classroom door once more. Sam was in view again, but instead of waiting for her to do something, he mouthed to her and asked her what she was doing out of class. In response, she held up her TA's badge and rolled her eyes. He smiled slightly and winked at her, and that's when she finally walked away from the door.

"Was that your girlfriend?" Alyssa's sudden question immediately drew his attention. He glanced over at her and hummed, though he already knew what she meant. He gripped the edges of his desk and hefted it closer to hers before sitting in his seat again. "At the door. Samantha, right?"

Danny leaned back in his seat and flattened his palms on the top of his desk. "Yeah, that's her, but she highly prefers to be called Sam."

"Well, Sam's a lucky girl," Alyssa remarked. Her eyes dipped down to her flipped open spiral notebook as she chewed on the bottom of her black pen. "It's not often that your boyfriend is a half ghost who saves people on a daily basis."

"Yeah, but she's not with me because I'm half ghost." The last thing he wanted to do at nine-thirty in the morning was have a meaningful conversation about his relationship with a complete stranger, so he quickly changed the subject. "Which school was it that you transferred from and why did you do it?"

Alyssa cleared her throat. "Horizon Palm High." Danny's eyebrows shot up as she hooked her feet around the legs of her chair and raised her shoulders. "I know, it's a great school, but my mom thought this school would be better for me. Don't ask."

"That sucks, but welcome to Casper High." The pair briefly smiled at each other before returning their attention to Ms. Reyes, who was writing a few math problems on the front board for everyone to complete.

The class dragged on until ten-fifty A.M. when the bell rang. Half of the students made a beeline for the door while the other half strayed behind to finish packing up their belongings. Danny filed out of the room and into the hallway, where he patiently waited for either Sam or Tucker to meet up with him.

Though they both navigated their way down the hall at the same time, Sam caught up to Danny first. "What's up, Danny boy?" She raised her arms just as he did and slapped her palms against his in a double high-five. They then laced their fingers together before he brought their arms down and pulled her into a brief kiss.

"Nothing much," he responded. "My teacher gave all of us homework on the first day, so that sucks. Overall, though, class was pretty cool." He clutched the left strap of his backpack with his left hand while draping his right arm across her shoulders. "Ready for lunch?"

"You already know I am." Tucker joined Danny's side and rubbed his palms together, darting his tongue out and sweeping it hungrily across his lips. "I think we're having fried chicken for lunch. It's always a first day of school meal deal."

Sam furrowed her brows and pressed her lips together in disgust. "Why do you still eat that monstrosity? I can practically hear your insides screaming." She moved her left arm around Danny's waist and watched as Tucker leveled a grimace of his own at her.

"I really hope you can't. That would probably sound disgusting," he responded, to which the Goth rolled her eyes at. "Come, join the dark side. The wondrous world of meat awaits you with open arms."

"How about a closed fist?" She clenched her right hand into a fist and brandished it in the air for emphasis, smirking at him to show that she was only kidding. Danny stepped in and laughed slightly, sliding his hand down and squeezing his girlfriend's right shoulder blade.

"Hey, new school year, new rules. Sam, dial it down on the threats. We both know you would never hurt Tuck." Her head shot up in his direction and one of her brows slid upward, almost as if she were challenging him. "Okay, maybe you would, but nothing permanent."

"That's right." Tucker joined in on the love, sliding his arm around Sam's shoulders and motioning ahead of them with a bright smile. "Come on, lovebirds. Let's see where lunch takes us."


	3. Chapter Three: Hummus and Celery Sticks

**Chapter Three**

Danny sat at his computer desk later that evening, hunched over his Algebra textbook and skimming over the words on the page before him. The only thing he didn't miss about school were the long nights of homework and studying he was going to have to endure again. Since he was easily distracted, he had Sam come over to keep him in check.

She occupied his bed; fanned out on the blanket before her were flashcards for her English class. As she studied them, she occasionally glanced up to make sure his attention was trained on his textbook. Several glances later, she finally took note of his slouched posture and frowned to herself. "Straighten up, Fenton. You'll thank me when you're older and not suffering from kyphosis."

A sheepish grin slowly formed on Danny's lips as he straightened his posture and spun his chair around to face the girl. "Sorry, Ms. Tetslaff. It won't happen again." Sam smirked at him and shifted her body, swinging her legs over the side of his bed and rising to her feet.

"Let me see what you've done so far," she said to him, motioning towards the open spiral notebook beside his textbook. He hesitated for a few seconds before casting her a defeated glance and handing her his notebook. She narrowed her eyes at him momentarily before taking it and looking down at the pages.

"Before you say anything, please remember that Algebra is not my best subject." He blinked a few times as her lips pursed, but she didn't say anything in response. Her lips parted slightly, but clamped together almost immediately after. "Sam, just say it."

"Well," she started, brushing her forefinger along the third question on his paper, "this question says, 'Find x,' but I don't think it meant circle the letter and write, 'It's right here' underneath the problem. You're supposed to solve the equation."

Danny sank down in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "This isn't even due until Wednesday. Why should I stress myself out over it when I don't have to do it right away?"

"There's nothing wrong with getting it out of the way, but I guess you have a point." Sam lowered his notebook and tossed it onto the bed behind her. "It wouldn't kill you to actually try in math. Junior year isn't the year to fool around with your grades. This is the main year that colleges look at, you know."

"I know that, but I'm fine," he insisted. Sam merely threw up her hands and scoffed in response. "What? I'm serious. I know you're just looking out for me, but I promise I'll try harder this year. Trust me, I want to get into a good college just as badly as you and Tuck do."

That seemed to appease her, as her shoulders wilted and her expression softened. "Okay." Danny rose up from his seat and playfully nudged his shoulder against hers, managing to get a quick laugh out of her. "I don't mean to sound like such a mom, but I really am just looking out for you. That's what significant others do."

"And I appreciate you more than you'll ever know for that. Come on." He edged his hand towards her palm and slipped his fingers around hers, smiling once she did the same. "Let's go see what my parents are up to down there."

He led her downstairs and into the basement, where his once normal steps became tentative as soon as he noticed the small pieces of broken glass strewed all over the floor. Jack and Maddie were huddled over their work bench, staring down at an invention that Danny was afraid to ask what its purpose was.

"I kind of want to ask what was being thrown around in here, but then that involves me having to ask when it was being thrown around, and those are both questions I'm not sure I want answers to," Sam said. Maddie and Jack both glanced over at her once she started speaking, so Danny decided to step in and ask a question of his own.

"Uh, mom and dad, what is that?" As soon as Jack grinned enthusiastically, he immediately regretted asking anything. The man grabbed the invention sitting before him and brandished it in the air as though it was a prize he won at the fair. Danny and Sam both shared an equivalent look of puzzlement, but neither of them dared to question him.

"It's supposed to be an upgraded version of the Fenton thermos," Maddie explained with a simper working its way across her lips. The new device was very much similar to the original one, but instead, it was black and white in color. "It's very special to us because it's the first thing we're working on that's being programmed to not affect you."

Danny's brows shot upward at the announcement. "This pleases me. Not sure why this idea wasn't pitched after I revealed my secret back then, but I'm not complaining." He took a small step forward and released Sam's hand to bring his arms across his chest. "It's not done yet, right?"

"Right." Jack lowered the device a bit and held it close to his face, eyeing a button on the bottom of it. "I think this button is a new addition, though. The Fenton portal proved how bad I am with buttons." And, to Danny and Sam's horror, he pushed his thumb against the button. The action caused a bright green beam of energy to spew outward towards Sam, who deftly ducked right before it could hit her.

Though she was spared, the same could not be said for the wall behind her. Everyone's wide eyes flickered to the fresh steaming hole in the wall before shifting to Sam, who swallowed hard and took a step back. "You know, I was about to like that invention until it almost lit me up like a Christmas tree," she admitted.

"Wait, it wasn't supposed to do that." Jack raised his finger to his hairline and scratched it, squinting his eyes at the thermos and trying to figure out what went wrong. Danny, who didn't like the idea of his girlfriend almost becoming barbecue, perched his hands on her shoulders and steered her up the stairs of the basement.

"Wow, look at the time," he said quickly. "We should really get going. Good luck with that!" And just like that, he and Sam were gone.

Maddie moved her hand to her jutted out hip, lifting an eyebrow at Jack as he continued to study the device. He noticed her questioning look and brought his hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it awkwardly. "What? I did say I wasn't good with buttons."

Meanwhile, upstairs, Danny retracted his hands from Sam's shoulders and clasped them together as she tilted her head to the side. "I'm so sorry about that," he apologized. She merely furrowed her brows and narrowed her eyes at him. "Actually, I should have expected that to happen. I mean, what else could have happened that didn't happen already?"

Sam placed her hand over his mouth and suppressed a long sigh. "Relax, ghost boy. I'm fine. It's not the first time your dad almost killed us with one of his inventions. In fact, it would've been out of character if he didn't." She removed her hand from his mouth and smiled gently at him once he started to relax.

"You're right." He reached out for her hand and lightly stroked his thumb along the back of it. "I'm sorry. I just really hate embarrassing myself in front of a pretty girl." Her eyebrows moved together and she pursed her lips once his cheesy words fully registered in her head.

"What, was I supposed to blush and giggle?"

Danny shook his head and smiled at her. "No. I was actually expecting you to say, 'Gee, that was so smooth, Danny. That's exactly why I fell for you.' Then, you were supposed to give me a hug and a kiss before going into the kitchen to make me a sandwich."

Sam snorted and spun on her heels, walking towards the stairs while shaking her head at him. "I don't know about the first part of that sentence, but you definitely could've gotten a hug and a kiss if you didn't discredit me as a female by making a sexist comment like that."

Danny could only watch as she continued up the steps, sliding her hand along the railing on her way up and around the corner. "Wait, I was kidding." No answer. He grinned cheekily to himself and took a few steps forward. "Sam? Come back!"

* * *

The next day, Danny collapsed into his seat with a long yawn in fourth period. He went to bed around ten last night, but it seemed like he had to go out and capture at least two ghosts per hour after twelve A.M. He hadn't yet released any of them from the thermos into the Ghost Zone because he figured they could be punished a little. That, and he really didn't want to deal with them while he was feeling the way he was.

The desk beside him shifted a bit before he heard a feminine chuckle. "Really? You're in my study hall class, too?" The familiar voice caused his lackluster eyes to avert to the right, where Alyssa was seated at the desk next to him. She flashed him a sweet smile as she slid the strap of her backpack down her arm and dropped it onto the floor. "You look tired."

"I am." Danny spread his palms out on the surface of his desk and leaned back in his chair, managing a small smile in return towards the girl. "I didn't know we had the same study hall class. I guess I should have asked you for your schedule yesterday."

"I could say the same thing. I wasn't expecting to see you in here, but I can't say I'm disappointed. I don't have any other friends at this school." Alyssa folded her arms on top of her desk and glanced towards the front door as more students filed into the room. "You're probably the coolest guy I've met so far."

He didn't know why, but he found himself smiling at her remark. He was always so used to people labeling him a freak and staying away from him, but he also couldn't help but wonder if she was just saying he was cool because he was half-ghost. He didn't want to make a new friend who only liked one side of him the way Paulina and Dash did.

"Thank you," he responded. "You seem like a pretty cool girl yourself." Alyssa's smile increased and she tapped her fingertips together, shaking her head slightly. "What? I'm serious."

"You probably say that to every new girl you talk to, but whatever. I don't get that too often. I guess that makes me a rare type of cool." She then started to drum her fingers along the table. "Why are you so tired, though? I don't think I've asked you that yet."

At first, he didn't feel comfortable discussing his ghost experiences with this girl, but then it started to feel like she was just trying to get to know Danny Fenton, so he answered her truthfully. "I've been fighting ghosts all morning. That, and I might have stayed up a bit longer than usual with my girlfriend." _Okay, that came out wrong. Nice, Fenton._

Alyssa flicked her eyes to him and smirked. "Oh, you dirty dog. Told you she was a lucky girl." He gripped the metal bar of his desk and turned his head to the side to conceal the hue of red that leaked into his cheeks. She crossed her ankles and looked over at the front board. "I kind of want to meet her. You know, only if it's okay with you guys. I don't mean to sound weird."

"Oh, no, you're fine. I guess that would be okay." He knew exactly how Sam's jealousy was set up, thinking back to Paulina and Valerie. He couldn't just bring someone like Alyssa around without raising a red flag because she was practically a clone of Star, but then he figured she could hook up with Tucker if Valerie wasn't going to do it.

"Really?" The blonde uncrossed her ankles underneath her desk and raised her hand, pressing it to her cheek. "That would be nice. I could really use a new friend, but are you sure you're okay with it?"

"Yeah. I'm supposed to meet her in the cafeteria later. Usually we meet up right after class, but on even days, we're going to start meeting up in the cafeteria because her fourth period class is closer to it," he explained. "You can walk with me to the cafeteria after class."

"Great, but you don't sound so sure." When Danny didn't answer her, she frowned and leaned in a bit closer. "Please, don't invite me to do anything that you think is going to get you in trouble by her. I don't want to start any drama. I'm all for positivity here."

"It's not that I'm unsure, it's just that she isn't exactly friendly towards girls who are... you know, the stereotypical blonde, pretty, cheerleader type of girls."

"Did you just call me pretty?"

"N-No. I mean—"

Alyssa held up her hand and cocked her head to the side with a tiny smile. "I see where you're going with this. Look, she has nothing to worry about. I would never pose a threat to anyone's relationship, and besides, I've already got my eye on someone else."

That brought Danny great relief, finally allowing him to relax. "You do?" She nodded at him. "Oh, okay. That's great, then. You know, if things don't work out with that guy you've got your eye on, my best friend Tucker is always available."

"I'll definitely keep that in mind. Thank you, Danny." She smiled sweetly at him as he shifted in his seat, leaning forward onto his desk and preparing himself to take a quick nap. She turned her attention away from him and onto their teacher, who was sitting at his desk and typing something on his laptop.

After the bell rang at the end of the period, Danny guided her towards the school cafeteria. He was almost certain that she already knew where it was by now, but just in case, he had her follow him anyway. The hallway was packed with students rushing to their classroom or to the cafeteria, so he had to fight the urge to just go invisible and fly to his destination.

Immediately upon arrival, he spotted Sam and Tucker seated at the same table they shared yesterday. They seemed as though they were both engaged in a deep conversation, and for a second, he considered waiting awhile so that he didn't disturb them. However, Alyssa already started walking towards the table, so he had no choice but to follow behind her.

She stopped walking once she got to the table and simply stood there with a bright smile on her face. "Hi!" Sam and Tucker, both startled by the girl's sudden chipper greeting, jumped a bit and quickly averted their heads towards her. She extended her hand out to Sam and glanced back at Danny. "I'm Alyssa. I'm in Danny's third and fourth period class."

A perplexed look crossed Sam's face as she hesitantly reached out to shake the girl's hand. "Uh, hi. I'm Sam." Alyssa's smile grew wider as she pulled her hand back seconds later and returned her arm to her side. Danny sensed Sam's discomfort and approached her quickly before taking a seat beside her.

"She's new here and she doesn't have any other friends, so I figured maybe she could hang with us for today," he explained. "Plus, she wanted to meet you, and," he leaned forward and cupped his hand over her ear, "I really think she and Tuck could hit it off."

Sam closed the lid to her salad and shook it around while smirking at him. "Are you sure she isn't an undercover A-lister? Look at her. We really don't need him getting his heart ripped out by someone using him to get to you."

"I'm not completely sure, to be honest," he whispered. "I haven't been looking at her because you're still the prettiest girl I've ever seen."

Sam stopped shaking her salad and started laughing. "You're seriously still milking that?" They were both so engrossed in their own little moment that they almost forgot about the other two people who sat across from them. "Tuck, we'll talk about it later."

Danny hummed in confusion and furrowed his brows, but Sam waved him off and focused on her salad once again. He shrugged at her and motioned towards Alyssa, who swiveled her head towards Tucker. "Tucker, this is Alyssa. I met her yesterday in class."

"Nice to meet you, Alyssa." She didn't reach for his hand the way she did with Sam's, but he merely brushed it off and cleared his throat. "So, you're new here? Which school did you transfer from?"

"Horizon Palm." She slid her arms out of the straps of her backpack and brought the bag to her lap. "It's a little up North from here." She didn't say anything else as she fished around inside of her bag, searching for her lunch. Tucker awkwardly looked over at Danny, who just lifted his shoulders and signaled for him to continue speaking.

"Uh, so, what do you like to do for fun?" He popped a fry into his mouth and chewed it slowly. Usually, he would've been flirting up and down with this girl, but something felt strange about her. It wasn't because she was short with him, but there was just something about her vibe that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Soccer." Her response was so absent that he had to wonder what had her that distracted. Sam and Danny completely tuned them out and started to have a side conversation of their own, but he didn't miss the fact that she was listening in on them with a small smile. "You know, you guys are so cute together."

Sam looked surprised by her random remark, but she seemed to accept it. "Can't say that's the first time I've heard that, but thanks." She sized the girl up with a smile that Tucker instantly recognized as the same fake smile she used to reserve for Valerie back then. "We just do what a normal couple does. You know, minus the ghost fighting."

"Well, still. I think you guys are really cute." Alyssa pulled out a clear container and set it in front of her on the table. "Glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks that, though." As she pulled off the lid, Tucker and Danny grimaced once they caught sight of what was inside.

Hummus and celery sticks.

"Ew," drawled Tucker, earning him a puzzled look from Alyssa, who paused and set her hands on both sides of her container. "How can you sit there and eat that with a straight face? It's hummus."

"I don't know." Her eyes flashed down to his tray of chicken before curling her lips in disgust. "How can you eat that while knowing that poor animal was butchered? You should be ashamed of yourself."

Danny blinked. "You're kidding."

Sam's eyebrows shot up and she leaned forward, now intrigued with the ongoing conversation. "Wait, you don't eat anything with a face on it?" Alyssa nonchalantly shook her head and dipped her celery stick into her hummus. "Me either! Wow, you have no idea how long I've been waiting to meet someone at this school with your mindset."

"You don't say!" The girl rolled her head to the left and lifted her celery stick to her mouth, taking another bite as she glanced up at Danny and smiled broadly at him. "I can tell we're all going to get along just fine."

Maybe Danny and Sam missed the dark look in her eyes, but Tucker didn't.


	4. Chapter Four: A 'Really Weird Scam Call'

**Chapter Four**

After lunch ended, Danny and Tucker walked Sam to her sixth period class before heading to their own class, which was French II. They were fortunate enough to be able to share that class together, but that was the only class. Danny didn't share anything with Sam, which sucked, but with how great her grades were, it was no surprise that she was in all honors classes.

Tucker was unusually silent the whole way to class, which was a huge red flag to Danny because the boy was practically a walking mouth. He was always talking and cracking bad jokes, but the fact that he was so quiet now made him curious.

The boys both walked into their French class, greeting their new teacher briefly before making their way towards an empty seat near the back of the classroom. As soon as Danny sat down, he leaned forward in his seat and eyed Tucker closely. "Hey, Tuck, what's bothering you? And don't say nothing because I can easily tell when you're lying to me."

Tucker lowered his bag onto the floor once he sat down and uncomfortably shifted in his seat. "Well, I don't know what it is, but something's up with that girl. There's this crazy look in her eyes and I don't know why it's there, but I don't like it. I have a bad feeling about her."

Danny looked into his best friend's eyes, searching for a glint that could tell him that he was merely joking, but there was nothing there but concern. "Who, Alyssa? She's not crazy, she's just adjusting and needs friends." He truly didn't notice anything off about the girl, but then again, he was the same boy who was oblivious to Sam's long-term crush on him.

"Like I said, it's just a feeling." Tucker shook his head and exhaled slowly, eyebrows flattening as Danny's eyes darted to the side. "She completely disregarded everything I said to focus on you and Sam. Either this girl's an undercover Danny Phantom fan or she's nuts."

Danny could have believed him, but he didn't see anything wrong with Alyssa. Sure, she completely dubbed Tucker at lunch, but she'd been nothing but sweet besides that. "There's nothing wrong with her, and to prove it to you, I'm inviting her to the mall with us after school. You'll see. It's all in your head."

Later at the mall, however, Tucker figured that Danny was right when Alyssa started making light conversation with him. She was kind towards him, which was completely opposite to how she was acting during lunch. She even laughed at his terrible jokes, and it was then that he began to feel bad about badmouthing her.

After they all shopped around for a bit, they went to the food court and ordered something to eat before they left. Danny was the one who suggested that they all eat inside instead of taking their food home with them, so they unanimously chose an empty table to feast at.

Sam went with Danny to one of the other food places in the mall, leaving Alyssa and Tucker alone at the table. It was slightly awkward between them at first because they still didn't know each other like that, but then Alyssa spoke. "You don't like me very much, do you?"

It was a completely random question, but Tucker found himself prepared for it anyway. He cleared his throat and turned towards her, looking her straight in her eye. "I do like you. What makes you say that?"

Her shoulders rose as she absently stirred her straw around in her soda. "Just the dirty looks you give me. If I said anything you took the wrong way, I'm sorry." She glanced up at him and smiled faintly. "I really do want to be friends with you guys. You're all cool."

Tucker drew a deep breath and nodded slightly, trying to ignore the great surge of guilt that washed over him. "No, don't apologize. I may have judged you too harshly, and for that, I'm sorry. You'd make a great addition to our group. Sam doesn't have to be the only girl now."

"Yeah?" Alyssa hunched forward and propped her elbows on top of the table, perching her chin on her palms and pressing her fingertips to her cheeks. "I don't think she cares about that. She has you and Danny. How long have they been together, by the way?"

"Since they were fourteen," Tucker answered flatly. "They're sixteen now." He stabbed his fork through his sesame chicken and stuck it into his mouth. As he chewed and swallowed, Alyssa hummed and craned her head to the side a bit, flicking her gaze outward.

"Oh, okay." She lifted her hand and raked her fingers through her hair, closing her eyes for a second. "You don't think she's too dark for him, though? I mean, don't get me wrong. She's a good-looking girl, but all that black and purple overshadows her beauty."

Tucker raised his shoulder in a half-shrug and continued forking his food around his plate. "Uh, she pulls it off pretty well. I don't think it overshadows her looks at all. Besides, Danny loves that about her."

Alyssa didn't respond after that. She turned away from him and raked her eyes around the mall, looking everywhere but at him. He thought nothing of it and resumed eating his food, occasionally glancing around to see if Danny and Sam were on their way over yet.

"Hey, can you give me his phone number?" Tucker looked up from his food with a confused expression at Alyssa's sudden question. She cleared her throat and waved her hand through the air, scrunching her brows together. "For class related stuff. I don't want to ask him personally because it would sound wrong."

He smiled faintly at her and nodded. "One second." He waited until she pulled out her cell phone from her side pocket and prepared to type in Danny's number before he recited it to her. She thanked him and shifted her full attention onto her phone, leaving Tucker to sit in silence and continue eating.

Danny and Sam returned about six minutes later, carrying their food in plastic bags despite Danny's request to eat inside. Tucker shrugged it off and rose up from the table to dump out his food, but just as he started to step away, Danny caught onto his shoulder and gently pulled him back.

"How was Alyssa? He glanced back at Sam, who was standing around and patiently waiting for him and Tucker to finish their conversation. "Still 'crazy'?"

"No. Surprisingly, she was better than I thought. I guess it really was all in my head." Tucker paused to flash his friend a sharp glare once the corners of his lips rose into a grin. "Yeah, yeah. I don't need to hear you rubbing anything in my face. Take that as an apology and move on."

Danny chuckled and casually raised his hands behind his head. "Yeah, and what's more is that Sam's warming up to her, too. I think I did a pretty good job at finding a fourth addition to our group. Who knows, maybe you guys can really hit it off."

"Oh, I don't know about that." A small part of Tucker still wanted a shot with Valerie, but he honestly didn't think he was going to get anywhere with her. He just felt like he was chasing someone who didn't want to be caught. "Maybe, I guess."

* * *

The evening rolled around sooner than Danny thought, and before he knew it, he was preparing himself to go to sleep. He had just finished showering and was now changing into his pajamas, but as soon as he pulled his shirt over his head, his laptop started blaring.

He clearly made out Sam's name on the screen, which somehow caused him to smile. He loved video chatting with her just before bed because it was a daily little intimate thing between them. They would talk about anything and everything, no matter how random the topic seemed to be.

After making sure he was fully dressed and ready to go, he rushed for the laptop and accepted the call before it could end. As the chat started to connect, Danny searched around for his headphones, which ended up falling on the floor sometime during the day. He lifted them up and plugged them into his laptop just as Sam's face popped up on his screen.

"Hi, Danny. Is this a bad time?" She only asked because she was calling about fifteen minutes later than she usually did, but Danny waved her off by scoffing and taking a seat at his computer desk.

"Nonsense. What are you up to?" He looked into her eyes and smiled once her expression brightened. Just talking to him, though it was the smallest thing in his book, made her happy, and that, too, made him happy. She would have sat there and talked to him all night if she could.

She told him about how her parents were currently downstairs arguing with her grandmother about something that happened at Bingo night, to which he laughed at. She then proceeded to rant about how much she disliked having to share a class with Paulina, who was still as disrespectful as ever towards her. Still, he could only gaze lovingly at her as she spoke, which she picked up on about seven minutes into the call.

"You okay?" she asked. He hummed in confusion and she cocked her head to the side, lowering her eyebrows and raising her voice a bit. "Did Skulker hit you a little too hard? You look out of it. Did something happen?"

"No, no. I promise I'm fine." That seemed to alleviate some of her concern, though a great amount still lingered. Danny shuffled his fingers through his hair and leaned forward a little, smiling faintly at her. "I just... love you, you know?"

Sam's cheeks flushed to the color of scarlet, but she couldn't hold back a smile of her own. "I appreciate you so much, Danny." She closed her eyes for a second and sighed heavily. "Really, and please ignore me sounding like a total cornball. It's not intentional."

Danny's heart skipped a beat when she chortled, which was the equivalent of music to his ears. He was about to respond with a witty quip, but his phone started to ring beside him on the desk. He wondered if it was Tucker calling him, but as he checked his phone, he realized he didn't know the number.

"One second, Sam," he told her. "I'm going to take this." He was about to stand up from his desk and shuffle out of his room until he heard Pamela in the background, asking Sam to help her out in the kitchen for a minute. The Goth rolled her eyes and stood, announcing that she would be right back.

As soon as she left, he accepted the call and brought the phone to his ear, murmuring a faint, "Hello?" At first, he received no response, so he tried again. "Hello? Who's this?"

"Hi, Danny. This is Alyssa. I hope it's not too late to call, but I got your phone number from Tucker," Alyssa explained, finally answering him. Despite the fact that she couldn't see him, he nodded his head and leaned back in his computer chair, slowly spinning it around.

"That's okay. Don't worry about it. I'll save your number for future references. Good night and see you tomorrow." He almost moved his phone away from his ear to end the call, but Alyssa stopped him by quickly calling out to him.

"Wait, what are you doing? Are you at home?"

Her question was a bit odd to him, but being the sweetheart that he was, he politely answered it anyway. "Yeah, I'm home. Don't know where else I'd be this late, but I'm kind of in the middle of video chatting with Sam, so I—"

"Did you finish your homework for Ms. Reyes?" She had cut him off so quickly that he completely lost his train of thought. He blinked a few times and scratched his head before realizing that he never properly completed his assignment from the woman, but with Sam's help, it was possible.

"Uh, no, but I was actually going to start on it in a few." Alyssa fell silent for several seconds as if she were waiting for him to continue speaking, but when he showed no sign of doing so, she spoke instead.

"I can help you." She lapsed into silence again, but it was only for about six seconds. "We can video chat if you want. It's up to you. I even wrote out all of my work for each of the math problems. They're all correct."

Danny wasn't about to hang up on Sam for Alyssa, no matter how cool he thought she was. "No, that's okay. I'll just get help from Sam, but thank you a lot. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?" The girl was about to say something, but at that moment, Sam returned, so he just hung up on her and tossed his phone onto his bed.

"I'm back. Who was that? Was that Tuck?" Sam moved her chair closer to the screen and reached over for her water bottle as Danny's phone started ringing once again. He turned his head towards his bed and narrowed his eyes at the phone, but made no effort to answer it this time.

"Uh, nah, just some scam call." He could have told her the truth, but he figured there was no real reason that she needed to know who exactly was calling him. The phone continued ringing for a few more seconds before it stopped, much to Danny's relief. "Just a really weird scam call."


	5. Chapter Five: Boundaries

**A/N: thank you for all of your reviews! I appreciate them a lot. I smile at each and every one of them and I'm glad you're all enjoying the story. especially to whoever guest is, you don't know it, but your reviews really make my day. thank you so much for your kind words. :)**

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

Three weeks crawled by with nothing out of the ordinary happening. It was now the eleventh of November, and with Tucker's birthday in just three days, he, Danny, and Sam were standing at the front of their school and going down a list of things he could do to celebrate.

"We could go to the beach," Danny pitched. Sam immediately shot the idea down, and that's when he remembered that she wasn't a big fan of swimming. "Okay, then we can go to a concert. The only problem with that is finding one that's not sold out by Friday."

Sam pursed her lips and slid her eyes upward thoughtfully. "We can go to a museum, or perhaps to the zoo?" Tucker frowned and shook his head, leaning his left shoulder against the wall of the building.

"No. These sound like things you guys want to do, not me." Danny and Sam looked at each other for a second before turning away. The trio fell silent for several minutes as each of them continued thinking up ideas. That's when Tucker's face brightened and he smirked at them. "I want a birthday party."

Sam rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest, her shoulders falling into a line. "Well, genius, that was the second thing I suggested and you said no to it." Tucker just shook his head at her and fluttered his hand through the air dismissively.

"No, as in a real birthday party." She deadpanned, still not understanding what he was saying, so his face fell and he tried a different approach. "No, like with different people. You know, other people besides you guys."

Sam scoffed and lowered her eyebrows. "Then send us the guest list, princess. You don't know anyone besides us, unless you count Alyssa and Valerie."

"Wait." Danny brought his fingers to his chin and stroked it, humming contemplatively. Tucker and Sam both turned their gaze onto him with raised brows. "I can arrange something. I mean, we may not have a ton of friends, but there's still people we can invite. You know everybody at school likes parties."

Sam puffed out her lower lip and nodded her head. "Okay." She pivoted and started to walk along the sidewalk leading up to the school's entrance, only continuing to speak once Tucker and Danny followed after her. "It's your party and your rules, so I promise to comply with everything you want me to do to help."

Tucker flashed her a smile and turned his chin up a bit. "Thank you. He glanced at Danny before averting his eyes ahead of him. "I want to invite Paulina."

Sam stopped walking, which neither of the boys noticed until they got to the entrance and saw that she wasn't near them. They whirled around to see her standing there, gaping at Tucker. "Her? Why her? Do you want a party with people or a fight with me?"

"Ah, ah," Tucker drawled with a wagging forefinger, "you promised to comply with everything I wanted you to do to help. My party, my rules, right?"

Sam sighed in defeat and threw her hands up slightly. "Fine, but why do you want her there? She only likes Danny. She doesn't pay attention to either of us." She moved closer to Danny, who placed a gentle hand onto her shoulder to relax her.

"He wants a big birthday party, and Paulina is the main person who can drive more people to come by just showing up. I'm pretty sure Dash is coming regardless, but people who orbit around her like Star or Ashley aren't going to come without her."

"Okay, you're right." Sam still didn't seem to agree with the idea of Paulina being in attendance, but because it ultimately wasn't her decision to make, she decided to let it go. "I'm not inviting her though. You guys figure that one out on your own."

Tucker grinned cheekily and threw his arms around Sam, whose muscles immediately tensed. "Thank you. You're a real sport, you know that?" Her face scrunched up as she forced her way out of the embrace, ignoring Danny as he began laughing at them.

"You're only in my good graces now because it's your birthday party, but don't push your luck, Casanova." She reached for Danny's hand and tugged him towards the building, leaving Tucker standing there with a huge smile plastered on his face.

* * *

"A party, you say?"

Danny nodded as Paulina shut her locker door and turned to fully face him. "For Tucker. He wants a sweet sixteen birthday party, basically, and he was hoping that you could come and invite your friends along with you. It would mean a lot to him, and I'm already aware of all the things you would rather do than—"

"I'll be there," Paulina cut in sweetly. "I'll invite my friends, too. Just let me know the time, date, and location."

Danny didn't really know what to say next. He had already prepared himself to be shot down, but the fact that she actually accepted his invite left him flabbergasted. He stopped to study her, trying to see if she was being sarcastic, but she seemed to be sincere. "I- well, that's great. Thank you. I'll let him know, but please tell me there's no catch."

"There's no catch, silly." She smiled warmly at him and flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Just think of it as an apology for the way I treated you in Freshman year." She clapped his shoulder twice before walking past him and down the hallway to her class.

He leaned his shoulder against the lockers and watched her depart down the hallway up until she disappeared around the corner. He knew she only accepted his invite so that he would at least start to consider her as a friend, but with how horrible she treated him, Sam, and Tucker before she knew his secret blew any and all trust towards her.

Someone's hand fell to his shoulder then, causing him to flinch and twist around faster than he could go ghost. Alyssa was standing there with a surprised look on her face, but she smiled once he brought a hand to his chest and exhaled deeply. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just overheard something about a party and wanted to know what time I should be there."

His brows pulled together and he looked to the right, lowering his hand. He swore that he didn't even see her standing near him when he was talking to Paulina, but that didn't strike him as eccentric as much as the fact that she just invited herself to Tucker's party. "Well, uh, we haven't worked out all the details yet, so—"

"Oh, okay. Just let me know then." She glanced down at her wristwatch and furrowed her eyebrows. "Are we going to lunch now? We don't want to keep Sam and Tucker waiting. We're already late." She hooked her arm around his and started to guide him towards the cafeteria. "Come on."

We? Danny narrowed his eyes at her as he was being pulled down the hallway. She had been acting different all week, but she was so nonchalant with it that it made him wonder if she was just naturally an awkward person. When he met her, she was big on making friends, yet she made no effort in talking to anyone else besides him, Tucker, and Sam.

He let the matter go for the moment and unlinked his arm from around hers as soon as they entered the cafeteria. Usually, they would part ways to go get their lunch, but that day, she stuck with him as he walked over to Sam and Tucker's table.

"Hey, Tuck, just letting you know that Paulina gave us the green light," he informed Tucker as he sat down beside Sam, who leaned forward to peck him on the lips. Alyssa took a seat next to Tucker, but failed to greet him or Sam the way she usually did.

"That's great news, dude. Besides the invites, I need to get my parents consent to throw the party at my place." Tucker took a bite out of his slice of cheese pizza and chewed thoroughly before swallowing it and speaking again. "We should have started planning this last month."

Danny, who was holding his hands out to Sam so that she could dump some of her chips there, shrugged at his friend. "We can finish planning it at my house later. You and Sam threw that whole DJ party at my house back then, so this should be a piece of cake for you guys."

Sam lightly shook her chip bag so that the lingering chips that threatened to fall could do so into Danny's palm. "It's not that hard to throw a birthday party. Food, drinks, music, location, decorations, utensils, and other party stuff. Of course, I feel like I'm going to be paying for half of this crap anyway."

"That's actually where you're wrong, Sam." Tucker stretched his arms across the table and smiled smugly when Sam tilted her head to the side and flashed him a questioning look. "I've been maintaining a pretty decent budget. You don't have to worry about a thing, and if my parents say yes to the party, all you have to do is show up."

"Well, color me relieved." She brushed a strand of hair away from her face and set her elbow on the table, perching her chin onto her palm. "This is definitely going to be one interesting party. Ignoring the fact that Paulina's going to be there, I'm actually looking forward to it."

Alyssa looked out at everyone before finally deciding to say something. "Is Jazz going to be there?"

Now that question struck a great chord of curiosity within Danny. He was absolutely certain that he had never mentioned his sister around her, and since she never hung out with Sam or Tucker individually, he was positive that neither of them said anything about Jazz.

"You know my sister?" He tried to force his question to sound as casual as possible, but the slight pitch raise of his voice informed her of his suspicion towards her. She quickly cleared her throat and smiled at him so kindly that he almost felt bad.

"Um, I was referring to jazz music, smart one. Is jazz music going to be there?" she asked, but her gaze dipped down to the table as though she wasn't confident in her own question. Sam and Tucker thought nothing of it, but Danny definitely felt like something was up.

Once again, he shook off his bad feeling and carried on with his day. He met up with Tucker after school and walked with him to his house without Sam because she had to go somewhere with her parents directly after school. She promised to video chat with him later that night to compensate for her absence, to which he felt a little better about.

He didn't mind too much because he was having fun with Tucker. They watched a few movies, talked about the party, crafted invitations, and played video games. At around seven-thirty P.M., they just lounged around Danny's room and talked about random things as they waited for the pizza they ordered to arrive.

A few raps on the front door drew Danny's attention and made him leap up from his bed with anticipation for pizza. "I'll get it. You can start up a movie on my laptop while I'm out." Tucker nodded and leaned upright from the floor, scooting over towards the laptop while Danny made a beeline for the front door.

His stomach growled as he edged closer to the living room, so he quickened his pace and jammed his hand into his back pocket to grab his twenty-dollar bill. Another sharp knock on the door was heard, causing him to shout, "I'm coming!" However, as he swung the door open, he quickly realized that the person standing on the other side of the doorway wasn't the pizza delivery man.

"Hi! I'm finally here." Alyssa tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear as her lips pulled back into a broad smile. "It was a little difficult to find your house at first, but I eventually figured it out. This is a nice place."

"Alyssa?" Danny didn't even try to cover up the fact that he was officially freaked out by the girl. Her smile melted into a deep frown as he stepped out of his house and quietly shut the door behind him. "What are you doing here?"

"You said we were all going to finish planning Tucker's party at your house, so I'm at your house, silly." She tried smiling at him again, but when he didn't bother to return the gesture, it faded just as quickly as it formed. "Okay, you don't look happy to see me. You're the one who invited me here."

"No, I invited Sam and Tucker. I thought that was clear." He inhaled deeply and formed a small circle with his lips, swiftly blowing out the air. "How do you even know where I live? I've never told you my address."

Alyssa let out a small laugh and raised her shoulders. "I think just about everyone knows where you live."

Danny slid his hand over his face and groaned. "Look, Alyssa." He paused and eyed the girl, frowning as her once cheerful demeanor dissipated into a much more solemn one. "We have to set some boundaries."

She blinked twice and lowered her eyelids partially. "Boundaries?"

"Boundaries," Danny repeated with a slight nod. "I don't mind if you want to hang out with me, but the whole spam calling after nine thing and showing up at my house unannounced isn't okay. Well, I think the last one was miscommunication on my part, but still."

"Oh." Her fingers tightened around her purse and she slowly started to smile again. It wasn't an innocent smile, but rather a strange one that Danny couldn't figure out. "Okay. I understand you."

"Good." It was awkward between them because neither of them knew what to say next. He swallowed and cleared his throat, stepping aside and motioning to the inside of his house. "Want to come in?"

Alyssa peered into the house and stuck her lower lip out a little as she shook her head. "Uh, nah, I'm okay." She straightened up and looked him straight in the eyes, sending shivers running down his spine. "I'll see you tomorrow, though. Goodnight."

She turned on her heels and was already briskly walking down the sidewalk before he even had a chance to say anything else to her. He sighed and leaned against the building of his house, rolling his eyes shut and taking a few seconds to pull himself together before entering his house once again.


	6. Chapter Six: Chills

**Chapter Six**

Danny struggled against a giant green ectoplasmic ghost that greatly resembled a floating germ while Sam and Tucker fought off an army of them. The ghosts fighting them were much smaller, so he tackled the bigger monster.

"Why do you have arms?" He didn't mean to taunt the ghost, but he let his curiosity get the best of him. "And how are you so strong?" The ghost growled and swatted at him while Sam rolled her eyes and backed away from the ghosts that started to loom closer to her.

"Don't tease it! Suck it into the thermos and come help us out here." She extended her arm and aimed her wrist ray at the ghosts before firing at them, but each time the blasts damaged them, they regenerated and roared at her. Tucker swallowed the lump in his throat as his back pressed against the wall. He and Sam were cornered, as the wrist rays were pretty much useless in their situation.

Danny squeezed his eyelids shut for a split second, and when he reopened them, his eyes were a bright, piercing blue color. He drew his hands back and shot them forward, spraying ice rays from his palms and onto the monsters. They were instantly frozen in place, and once he saw that they were, he wasted no time in sucking them up into his thermos.

"I figured since we weren't keeping calm, we should just skip to the cool and collected part," he quipped as he started capping his thermos. When Sam and Tucker's expressions fell blank, he awkwardly scratched the back of his head and glanced off to the side. "That wasn't the best joke I've made so far, was it?"

"No, but you can spend all of third period thinking about it and then we'll let you try again later." Sam shifted towards Tucker, who was making his way over to them and fiddling with his wrist ray. "So? Did your parents ever give you their approval for the party?"

He stopped in front of her and raised his hand to scratch his eyebrow. "Eh, not exactly. You see, they're going out of town today and I figured if we want to have a fun party with no parent permission, then we have to do it before they come back."

Her eyes enlarged as she processed the information. "And when do they come back?"

"Early Friday morning."

Sam's jaw slacked and she fell silent for several seconds. "Tucker, it's Wednesday morning." She clinched her waist and drew her brows together. "How are we supposed to throw a whole birthday party by tomorrow? Come on, that isn't fair."

"Wait, wait. I think we can pull it off," Danny interceded. He had transformed back into his human half during their conversation and was now walking down the sidewalk towards the school. "We have the invites. We can just pass them out today and start decorating your house later after school."

"But the date on the invitations say that the party's on Friday." Tucker hummed once and pressed his palm to his cheek, pursing his lips. "Well, I guess we can always tell them that it's been rescheduled to tomorrow, but it's a little last minute, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but I'm certainly up for a challenge." Sam clasped her hands together and tapped her fingertips to her lips. "It's your sixteenth birthday party, and if all else fails, you'll still have me and Danny."

Tucker smiled at his friends and shrugged his backpack strap down his arm as he knelt down. "Okay. We'll each take some invites. Don't invite anyone who seems weird." He dug around inside his bag until his fingers touched the invitations he and Danny crafted. He pulled them out and split them, distributing them evenly between him, Danny, and Sam.

Sam fingered through her set of invites, noting that the pink envelopes were for the girls and the blue ones were for the boys. There was one, however, that was addressed to Alyssa. She would have skipped it if it wasn't so conspicuous, having the girl's name written across the front in black ink.

"This one looks like it was personally made for Alyssa." Danny glanced over at her, but once he saw what she saw, his eyes widened. She shrugged and started to place the invitation near the back of the other ones. "I guess I'll just give it to her at lunch."

He would have let it slide, but Tucker's puzzled expression told him that he wasn't the one who made the invitation for her. Danny was absolutely positive that he didn't craft anything personal for her, and when he eyed the front of the envelope, he realized that none of their handwriting styles matched the one written there.

"Wait, no." He quickly reached out for the envelope before it could get lost among the other ones. Sam turned to him with a perplexed look, but he smiled faintly at her and waved the invitation around. "She's in my next class. I'll deliver this to her myself."

She seemed to accept his explanation, as she simply raised her shoulders and proceeded to shove the rest of the envelopes inside of her backpack. "I have to go, though. If I'm late to class again, Mr. Carter is going to have a fit." She adjusted her bag and leaned up on her toes to peck Danny on his peek before waving goodbye to Tucker.

Once she left, Danny told Tucker he had to go as well. The two said their goodbyes before they parted ways, but as soon as he was certain Tucker wasn't around him anymore, he tore up Alyssa's invitation and tossed it into the trash.

There was no way she was able to sneak one of the invitations away and write her name on it without anyone catching her. He himself watched Tucker place all of the envelopes inside of his backpack last night right before his parents picked him up. Unless she was a ghost, there was no way she could've gotten her hands on one of the invites without Tucker giving it to her.

He took a deep breath as he drew closer to Ms. Reyes classroom. He really wanted to believe that everything that was happening was all in his head, but nothing was adding up. Blowing up his phone after dark was one thing, but showing up to his house unannounced, inviting herself out to events with him, confidently knowing his sister's name without being told, and somehow stealing an invitation to write her name on it was another.

He managed to stomach all of those negative thoughts as he entered the classroom. He flashed his teacher a tiny smile before making a beeline for his seat, but unfortunately, Alyssa was already sitting at the desk beside him. Upon seeing him, the corners of her lips turned upward into the most bone-chilling grin he had ever seen.

"Good morning, Danny." Her greeting was so casual that it bothered him, but he wordlessly took his respective seat and kept his eyes trained on the front board. Though he couldn't see her face, he heard her tone of voice soften as she spoke to him again. "What's wrong? You look exhausted."

He wanted to tell her that he was fine, that he just didn't want to talk to her, but he couldn't find his voice. He simply continued ignoring her, pretending as if she wasn't there at all. He couldn't tell if she was bothered by his silence or not, but luckily for him, the bell rang, and Ms. Reyes began teaching.

She didn't assign any group assignments, so he was able to avoid communicating with her for the remainder of the period. As soon as the bell rang over an hour later, he hastily gathered his belongings and rushed out of the classroom. He was fully aware that he was being a bit dramatic, but something about Alyssa gave him the creeps. It was the same freaky feeling he had when he found about Box Lunch, the daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady.

She didn't show up to his table with Sam and Tucker at lunch, which was the only relief he was able to gain that entire morning. He didn't know whether it was because they had all chosen to sit outside that day or if it was because of what happened in class, but he couldn't truly say he cared about whatever the reasoning was.

As his girlfriend and his best friend started conversing about whatever subject, he tuned them out and continued thinking. He considered that maybe he was being too harsh on Alyssa. She didn't display any major signs of being a creep, but then again, his thoughts were just all over the place. His mind was swirling and he couldn't focus, but what made him so confused was the fact that the bad vibes he received from her didn't match the type of person she seemed to be.

Someone's hand started moving up and down in front of his face, dragging him from his thoughts. He blinked rapidly and focused his eyes on Sam, who lowered her hand and frowned deeply at him. "You okay? You spaced out for a minute there."

He chose to keep his suspicions to himself in case they proved to be false. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin Alyssa's friendship with the only two people she seemed to know at the school. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine." He inclined his head and brought his palm to his forehead, closing his eyes. "I'm just not feeling well today, I guess."

"Why? What's wrong?" Sam gently pulled his hand away from his face and pressed the back of her hand against his forehead. Tucker leaned forward and furrowed his brows, both curious and concerned for his pal. "Do you want me to walk you to the nurse's office?" she asked, to which he shook his head to.

"I just feel lightheaded, but it'll go away." He wanted to be alone for a few minutes, but that was going to be impossible with Sam and Tucker as his best friends. "Don't worry about me, guys."

"Uh, wrong answer. The last thing we want is for you to pass out on us." Sam dug into her lunchbox and pulled out a strawberry protein bar. "Eat this and then drink this." She reached for her water bottle and slid it towards him, flashing him a look that let him know that he had no choice but to accept it.

With a deep frown, Tucker grabbed Danny's backpack and started to take back the invitations he gave him earlier. "I'll take these off your hands. Don't worry about it. I'll just talk to Dash and see if he can hand the rest of these out."

He felt slightly relieved about not having to go around the school and invite random people, but he was even happier that he got rid of Alyssa's invitation to the party. If she kept her distance and he kept his, he wouldn't have to worry about her creeping him out anymore.

Or would he?


	7. Chapter Seven: Tucker's Party

**Chapter Seven**

Thursday evening, Tucker stood in the center of his house with a huge grin plastered on his face. His party was successful so far, thanks to Danny and Sam, but mainly to Sam. Since putting up decorations and preparing food in one night seemed impossible, she hired a party planner to do it for them.

The music was pumping so loudly through the speakers that it was practically vibrating off the walls. The house was packed with partygoers, but it wasn't too crowded because some of the people invited didn't show up due to the last minute announcement. Still, the party was definitely going better than expected.

As everyone swayed along to the music, Sam and Danny walked over to Tucker, who had turned towards them when he thought he felt someone approaching him. "This party isn't too bad, Tuck, and that means something coming from me," she told him. Gripped in her right hand was a plastic cup of punch, to which he smirked at.

"I wouldn't drink the punch if I were you. I'm absolutely certain one of the A-listers spiked it," he informed her. She froze and dragged her gaze down to her punch, studying it with a small scowl. Danny bit down on his lip to suppress the laughter that threatened to trickle free, but he took the drink from her and reached for her hand.

"Come on. Let's go outside. It feels sweaty in here." He passed the supposed spiked drink over to Tucker and led Sam towards the backyard, leaving him standing there and wondering what he was supposed to do with it. He contemplated tossing it in the trash, but then he became curious and lifted his shoulders in a carefree shrug.

"Here's to turning sixteen." He tipped his head back and was about to pour the drink into his mouth, but someone's hand lightly touched his arm to gain his attention. He positioned his head upright again and raised his brows at who was standing before him. "Oh, hey, Alyssa. I was starting to think you didn't get your invite because I didn't see you yet."

Alyssa crinkled her nose and slightly leaned her head to the side. "Invite from who?" Tucker's lips thinned and he stared at her for a few seconds before answering her question matter-of-factly.

"Danny." Her demeanor darkened, but because he swiveled his head towards the food bar, he wasn't able to catch it. "Anyway, there's food over there if you're hungry. I wouldn't recommend drinking the punch, though. Well, only if you like spiked drinks. If you need anything, don't hesitate to let me..."

The rest of his sentence died in his mouth as he glanced back at her, only to see that she was gone. He was just about to search for her until one of the seniors at his party waved him over to her and her group of friends. After straightening out his shirt and flashing them his award-winning smirk, he casually shimmied over to them.

Meanwhile, Danny and Sam were standing in the backyard of the house, staring out at the dimly lit pool and having a small conversation about the party. A few couples had tried making out near them, which was extremely awkward until they all left to a more private area.

"I feel like I'm at a frat party in a horror movie." Sam looked over her shoulder and into the house, frowning at a girl gyrating on a boy who she presumed was someone she had just met. "Yep, definitely a horror movie."

Danny followed her gaze with a questioning look until he caught sight of the exact same thing she was seeing. He chuckled briefly and twisted back around, though his smile still lingered. "Hey, that's what a party full of people and spiked drinks does to you. You know, excluding us and Tucker."

She flashed him a bright smile of her own as she looked him in his eyes. "Still, I'm glad he's having fun. I really didn't think we were going to pull off this party with the little timing we had."

"Well, technically it was the party planner who pulled this off." Sam rolled her eyes and laughed once before taking a small step closer to him. His expression softened and he lifted the back of his hand to her face, grazing his fingers down her cheek. "You look beautiful tonight."

She felt the heat rush to warm her cheeks, but she ignored the feeling and scoffed at him. "What, just tonight?" she teased. His lips curled upward into a devilishly handsome grin, but instead of answering her right away, he raised his hand up to her hair and gently tugged on her hair tie. As it traveled downward, her hair released from its hold and tumbled down her back.

"No. Everyday, but especially tonight," he answered. Sam grinned toothily and snaked her arms around his neck, closing her eyes and leaning in to kiss him passionately. With the same energy, he moved his lips against hers and tangled his fingers in her hair, slowly backing her up against the wall behind them.

As hard as she tried to, she couldn't bite back the soft moan that escaped her mouth once he began tenderly kissing her neck. His breath tickled her skin, causing hers to hitch as she pressed her body closer to his. "God, I love you."

Pause.

Her eyes widened once she fully grasped what she just blurted out. She felt Danny tense up for several seconds before he pulled away from her and studied her face closely with wide eyes. "What did you just say?"

It wasn't like she was going to get away with lying. She was fully aware that she said those three words clearly, but that didn't mean she couldn't at least try to weasel her way out of it. "Uh, I said olive juice. You know, like olive—"

"No, no. You said you love me." His eyes penetrated hers and a huge grin spread across his face. He looked so happy that she couldn't help but smile as well, and it was then that he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up, spinning her around happily. "You said it!"

"Okay, hotshot, I said it." She laughed as he lowered her and set her on her feet again. He then cupped his hands against the sides of her face and pulled her lips closer to him, kissing her once again. They remained that way for about six seconds before pulling apart and touching their foreheads together.

"I love you, Sam. I know I sound like a cornball, but I mean it." He leaned away and took her hands in his, drawing her closer to him. "It makes me so happy to finally hear you say it back." She gazed into his eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to ignore the feeling of her heart fluttering.

"I love you too. I'm a little shocked that I actually said it, but I can't say I regret it." She leaned into him and smiled gently once he clasped his arms around her tightly. The world around her seemed to melt away after she pressed her head against his chest and squeezed her arms around him. She felt warm and protected in the grasp of his strong arms, and she found herself never wanting the moment to end.

But all good things must come to an end.

"Hey, Fenton, are you guys still using this area?" The couple spun around to face Dash, who was standing a few feet away from them and holding hands with a random blonde girl they had never seen before. Danny was just about to ask him what he was talking about, but then he remembered that people were using that area to make out with each other.

"Uh, no," he answered quickly. "All yours, man." With a grimace, he and Sam rushed back into the house, preferring not to see the jock tongue down some stranger. It would definitely be a mentally scarring image that neither of them were ready to have.

After they made it back inside, the first person they saw was Tucker, who was dancing near the corner with two girls. While Sam cringed, Danny hooted for his friend and laughed a bit before shifting towards the Goth with a raised forefinger.

"I have to use the bathroom." He started to step backwards as he motioned to the left. "Can you get me a snack from the bar?"

"Yeah, sure. Hurry back, though. We have to wrap this party up soon." She lightly brushed past him while he simultaneously jogged over to the staircase. He was really hoping that he wasn't about to have one of those real-life scenes in movies where the main character accidentally walked in on a couple making out in one of the rooms.

Once he reached the bathroom door, he knocked twice, and when he didn't receive a response, he twisted the door knob and swung the door open. It was unoccupied, so he shut the door and fully stepped into the bathroom. He was surprised to see that the room wasn't trashed by now, but he was also relieved because that meant less cleaning up for him, Sam, and Tucker.

He stood in front of the mirror and surveyed himself, shuffling his hands through his hair and brushing off his shirt to make himself look somewhat decent. That's when someone knocked on the door rather harshly, startling him and nearly making him jump out of his clothes.

"Bathroom's taken!" He raised his voice, both because he was irritated by the rudeness of the person and because the music blaring through the house was still a bit loud. He moved to his left and popped up the toilet seat, preparing to use the bathroom, but that's when the door suddenly swung open. "Dude, I said the bathroom's—"

"I'm no dude, but hi," Alyssa drawled as she entered the bathroom with a huge grin playing on her lips. The color completely drained from Danny's face as a great feeling of paralysis swept through his body. She locked the door behind her and threw herself onto him, forcing her lips against his.

"Cut it out!" He roughly shoved the girl off of him and stumbled back in surprise, but she was undeterred. She made her way back towards him and started to pull up his shirt, but he swiftly slapped her hand away and raised his voice. "What the hell are you doing?"

She rolled her eyes at his question, but her twisted smirk remained on her face. "Please. You can't pretend you don't want this to happen. I see the way you look at me and I notice the pain you're in whenever you're around Sam." She drew closer to him again and nuzzled her nose against his neck, but each time he pushed her back, she came onto him more forcefully.

"Danny?" Three soft raps on the door and the familiar voice of his girlfriend froze him right where he stood. "I figured you would want some water since the only snacks here are candy, and I know candy can be dry sometimes. Is that okay?"

Alyssa looked like she was about to answer for him, so he hastily slapped his hand over her mouth and cleared his throat. "Y-Yeah, that's fine." She hooked her fingers around the belt of his jeans and began fumbling with it, so he struggled in trying to maintain his composure for Sam while fighting off Alyssa and trying to keep her silent at the same time.

"You okay?" Sam sounded more concerned than suspicious, but he couldn't answer her right away. Alyssa spun around and pressed her bottom against his groin, sucking in a deep breath and biting her lower lip. He considered going intangible, but then he wouldn't be able to keep her quiet.

"I'm... I'm okay," he answered shakily. "I'll be out in a sec." His heart was hammering wildly in his chest as Sam fell silent, but then he heard her footsteps gradually grow more distant, much to his relief. He wasted no time in retracting his hand and pushing Alyssa back from him again, ignoring the fact that she stumbled against the wall due to his action.

"Danny, what's wrong?" she whispered. She looked genuinely hurt, and it was then that he realized that she was truly crazy. It wasn't all in his head; his negative feelings and assumptions about her were all true.

"Stay the hell away from me, Alyssa." A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead and his hands trembled as he forced his way past her and unlocked the door, flinging it open and marching away from her.


	8. Chapter Eight: Cleaning Up

**Author's Note: thank you all for the support. here are some review responses :)**

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* * *

 **Chapter Eight**

Danny was so heated that he could feel it in his face. He was pretty sure it was crimson in color as he stormed down the stairs, shoving partygoers out of his path on his way towards the front door. He needed fresh air, and he needed it fast before he hurt someone.

Alyssa almost made him lose his sense of trust with the stunt she just pulled on him. He started off pissed and humiliated, but his rage gradually shifted from a burning sensation in his chest to a powerful, ferocious storm. Sure, he was wary of her before, but he never expected her to do something like _that_.

Valerie was standing outside on the front lawn, biting into her vanilla cupcake and gazing up at the stars in the evening sky, but upon hearing the front door opening, she glanced over her shoulder to see who was coming out. When she saw Danny, she smiled benevolently at him, but once she took notice of his facial expression, her smile immediately melted.

His brows were furrowed into a line across his forehead and there were veins protruding from his neck. She waited until he drew a little bit closer to her before raising her hand to her chest and frowning at him. "Danny, what happened? Why do you look so angry?"

He fixed his eyes on hers, but once the remembrance of what happened in the bathroom struck him again, his anger spiked and his eyes flashed green. "I'm fine, Val. I just really want to be alone right now." He didn't wait for a response as he went ghost and flew away from her. She started to think that maybe he was angry because of something Sam did, but she had never gotten him that angry before.

Instead of standing around and assuming things, she decided to go directly to who she thought the source of his anger was. That person was Sam, and if not her, then Tucker. She was aware that whatever happened wasn't any of her business, but she couldn't help her curiosity.

After biting into her cupcake again, she spun on her heels and made her way back into the house. She searched around the living room, but with how many people were dancing around, it was hard to find Sam at first. That's when she glanced to the far right near the stairs and found the girl standing there looking completely baffled.

She slid past several people to get to the Goth, and once she did, she had to call out to her to get her attention because the volume of the music wasn't low enough to regularly speak over. "Sam!" It wasn't until the fourth attempt that Sam's head darted in her direction and her eyebrows drew together.

"Val?" she mouthed to Valerie, who simply waved her over and motioned to the door, signaling that she wanted to talk to her outside. She nodded her head and stepped down the stairs, making her way through the crowd and over to the front door.

Once they arrived outside where it was finally quiet, Valerie turned to Sam and slightly tilted her head to the side. "What happened with Danny? He marched out of there looking really ticked off." She had never seen him so upset about something that wasn't ghost-related. "Not that it's any of my business, but did something happen between you two?"

Sam's forehead crinkled as her eyebrows curled together. "He was in the bathroom last time I checked. At what point did he leave? I didn't even see him come back downstairs." She paused once Valerie's words fully registered in her head. "Wait, he was upset? About what?"

Judging by Sam's reaction, Valerie was now certain that she had no idea what happened with Danny. That left Tucker, but she honestly wasn't in the mood to plow through several people again just to find him and play detective.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully. "His face was red and his eyes were turning green and then back to blue. Not sure if he always does that when he's mad." She nibbled into her cupcake as Sam exhaled sharply and shifted her weight onto her right foot.

"Not always, but it's still not a good thing." She brought her hand to her forehead and massaged it gently. She had no idea what could have happened that made him storm off like that, but she was going to try and get to the bottom of it. "Did he say where he was going?"

"No. He just told me he wanted to be alone, went ghost, and then flew away. I haven't been close with him lately, so I don't know his cool down spots as well as you probably do."

She wasn't sure if Valerie was throwing shade at her or if she was being completely serious, but she brushed it off regardless and thanked her before rushing back into the house. Danny wasn't there to shut the party down himself, so she figured she might as well do it if Tucker was too busy having a good time.

She shoved many drunk people out of her way as she navigated through the crowd. She didn't know who exactly spiked the drinks, but she let it go for the moment and continued towards the far end of the house. Tucker's phone was connected to the speakers, so as soon as she reached it, she paused the song that was playing and inwardly sighed with relief once the room fell quiet.

Ignoring the clamors of protests and complaints coming from the partygoers about the sudden halt in the music, she stood up on the couch and cupped her hands along the sides of her mouth. "Party's over!" she shouted. "If your name is not Sam Manson or Tucker Foley, get out."

One unidentified person somewhere in the back called her a bitch, but other than that, almost everybody complied and filed out of the house. She got down from the couch and shooed any lingering people out of the house, and several minutes later, the living room was empty.

Tucker teetered out of the kitchen and hiccuped as his eyes roamed the room. "Whoa, this is a cool magic trick," he slurred. Sam turned towards him and narrowed her eyes at him, but he was oblivious to her reaction as he continued further into the room. "Where did everyone go?"

She clenched her jaw and groaned softly. "Tuck, why would you drink the punch if you knew it was spiked?" Instead of lecturing him about something he wouldn't comprehend while he was in his condition, she threw her hands up and started for the kitchen. "Never mind. Your parents are coming back in a few hours, so go take a nap somewhere while I somehow clean all of this up."

Tucker grunted and spun around, tottering over to the stairs of his house and ascending them slowly. He murmured something incoherently under his breath, but Sam didn't stick around to try and figure out what he said. She quickly got to work; his parents would be returning around two or three A.M. and it was just ten-thirty in the evening.

She grabbed a trash bag and ventured around the inside of the house, collecting any wrappers, cups, paper plates, and any other trash that lay strewed around the area. Once the inside was pretty much trash-free, she started to clean the front of the house and the backyard. Thankfully, there wasn't much trash outside.

She lined the garbage bags up outside and planned to dump them elsewhere so that Tucker's parents wouldn't suspect anything. As soon as she did that, she turned over her shoulder and was about to walk back into the house when she bumped into Alyssa, who was now standing in the doorway.

"Alyssa?" She surveyed the girl closely, noting the fact that her eyes were puffy and she had streaks of mascara decorating her cheeks. "You were here the whole time? Why were you crying?"

"Oh, um," Alyssa paused and bowed her head, shutting her eyes for a moment, "I got in a fight with Danny. I feel really bad, but I don't know how to apologize to him." Sam's eyes grew wide and she folded her arms across her chest, taking a single step forward.

"A fight? What did you guys fight about?"

Moisture started to gather in Alyssa's eyes as she recounted her supposed side of the story. "Some guys upstairs were saying some nasty stuff about me. Danny tried to convince me that those things weren't true, but I kept insisting that it was, so he got mad at me and stormed off."

"Huh." Sam frowned deeply and dipped her gaze sightlessly towards the ground. "So that's why he took off like that? It's not that big of a situation to get so worked up about, but don't worry about it. Let him cool off for tonight and we can talk to him about it tomorrow."

"Okay." Alyssa drew a shuddering breath and wiped at her eyes with her wrists. "You're right. I shouldn't get so worked up. It's not my fault." She smiled faintly at Sam and moved her clenched fists to her hips. "Please, let me help you clean up. It'll help clear my mind."

"Sure, but before we clean anything, let's get you cleaned up first." Sam pressed her hand against her friend's back and guided her into the house. Before they were able to go upstairs, however, Alyssa stopped in her tracks, twisted around, and tentatively wrapped her arms around Sam, who instantly stiffened.

"Thank you for listening." The pair stayed positioned like that for about three seconds until Sam lifted one arm and awkwardly curled it around Alyssa. The girl smiled at first, but once she was positive that Sam couldn't see her, her demeanor shifted to a much darker one and her face contorted into a menacing glare.


	9. Chapter Nine: Denial

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Danny Phantom.**

 **Chapter Nine**

Danny woke up early the next morning to the sound of his alarm clock blaring beside him on his nightstand. He stretched his arm outward and blindly felt around for the snooze button. After successfully pressing it, he snuggled back underneath his blankets and prepared to fall back asleep, but once the memories of last night hit him, he quickly jolted up in his bed.

"I fell asleep?" His lackluster eyes darted around his room momentarily before he groaned softly. "I can't believe I fell asleep!" He hastily flung his blankets off of his body and swung his legs over his bed, jumping up and rushing towards his closet.

He had absolutely no memory of intentionally going to sleep last night. He only recalled fighting a few ghosts to blow off some steam before heading home, to which he then lounged on his bed and pondered over the events that transpired that night. The next thing he knew, he was waking up to an alarm clock going off.

He felt bad about ditching Sam and Tucker at the party, but he was determined to make it up to them, especially since today was Tucker's birthday. If Alyssa kept her distance for the entire day, then he would make sure the three of them had the best day ever.

The incident in Tucker's bathroom was still eating him alive. He knew he was going to have to tell Sam and Tucker what happened before Alyssa made up some false recount of the story. Still, the fact that she could easily pull something so selfish and disloyal made him sick to his stomach.

After he finished showering and getting ready for school, he flew straight over to Tucker's house since it was still a little earlier than usual. He wanted to wake up his best friend with a friendly birthday greeting, but not more than he wanted to vent to him about what took place last night.

He arrived to his destination a few minutes later and phased through the window of Tucker's bedroom. As expected, his best friend was sleeping soundly in the warmth and comfort of his bed. He almost hated to disturb him, but he knew he would go crazy if he didn't open up to someone immediately.

"Tuck." He kept his voice just above a whisper so that he wouldn't disturb the boy's parents, who he guessed were sleeping over in the next room. After transforming back so that he wouldn't startle him, Danny tiptoed across the plush carpeting and drew closer to the bed. "Tucker, wake up."

A light shake on the shoulder later, Tucker slid his eyelids open with a soft groan. He blinked a few times until his vision focused on Danny, who was staring down at him. "Oh, hi, Danny. Thanks for the birthday party. Don't know why I drank the punch, though." He closed his eyes once again and rolled onto his side, but Danny yanked the blankets from his body.

"Well, for starters, happy birthday, Tuck." Tucker's eyelids partially cracked open again and a small smile formed on his lips as he rolled himself back over. Danny sat beside him on the bed and folded his hands on top of each other. "Listen, something happened last night at the party, but you have to promise me you won't tell Sam before I do."

Tucker stiffened for a moment before leaning upright in his bed. He drew his forefinger to his lips to silence his friend before motioning to the left with his other finger. "If you don't want Sam to know, then I'd suggest keeping the volume to a minimum." Danny's gaze drifted in the direction that the boy's finger was positioned towards, and once he noticed what he was pointing at, his eyes slightly enlarged.

Sam lay curled up on the floor on the opposite side of the bed, peacefully asleep. Danny encircled the bed to get to her, and after he did, he knelt down beside her and gently slid his fingernails through her hair. "What time did she go to sleep last night and why didn't she go home?" The compassion in his voice was evident. He already felt bad about leaving the party so suddenly last night, but if she was tired enough to crash at Tucker's, something had to have happened.

Tucker scooted backwards until his back pressed against the headboard of his bed. "I don't remember much from last night, but when I got up an hour ago, she was passed out there." He looked towards the girl and frowned deeply as Danny carefully looked her over. "Don't worry, she's not hurt. I think she was up all night cleaning because it was spotless out there when I checked for my parents. They still aren't here, but I guess Alyssa must have helped her sometime before."

 _Alyssa._

Danny's shoulders tensed up at the mention of her name. He was instantly hit with painful flashbacks from the night before, but as much as he tried to ignore them, they only grew stronger and caused him a great deal of anger. "Yeah. That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about." He rose from his position and started to pace back and forth across the room as Tucker furrowed his brows and stared at him. "She came onto me last night at the party."

"Who, Sam? She's your girlfriend, dude. Big whoop." Danny stopped pacing and glared at the techno geek with a raised eyebrow. "Wait." His eyes widened and his jaw slacked as the true meaning of Danny's sentence finally dawned on him. "Holy shit. You're kidding!"

"Will you keep it down?" Danny snapped in a subdued voice. He peeked over at Sam, who, fortunately for him, failed to stir. He exhaled sharply and returned his gaze to Tucker. "I was using the upstairs bathroom when Alyssa walked in. She tried to seduce me, but Sam stopped by to check on me just as I was pushing her back. I had to pretend everything was fine until Sam left and I was able to get away."

Tucker lapsed into silence for a few seconds before slowly shaking his head. "You've got to tell Sam. You know what they say about secrets being corrosive to relationships." Danny rolled his eyes and leaned his right shoulder against the wall.

"I'm not telling her anything. Not right now, at least." He focused his eyes on the sleeping girl again and growled quietly. "Man, she _just_ told me she loves me last night. Do you know what this is going to do to our relationship once she finds out?"

"No, but that's a risk you need to take. You know how much she hates secrets. Besides, it's better that she hears it from you faster than she hears it from Alyssa."

"Okay, Tucker. Whatever." Part of him knew Tucker had a point, but it still frustrated him. He didn't want to be in that situation at all, but if he didn't do something about it, then it was only going to escalate. "Just let me talk to Alyssa first."

"Good, and while you do that, I'll be here catching up on sleep." Tucker lowered himself back onto his bed and tucked his body underneath the blankets. "This is why I'm glad I'm not mayor anymore. I don't have to worry about waking up early on weekends."

Danny's forehead scrunched up and he cast a sideways glance at nothing in particular. "But today's Friday."

Tucker shot up in bed.

* * *

"I had a test in first period today. Despite how crappy I feel, I'm pretty sure I aced it." Sam's lips split apart as she yawned and raised a hand, gently patting it over her mouth. She pressed her head against her locker and slammed her eyelids shut. "Now I just want to go home."

"Again, I'm sorry about that." Danny bowed his head for a second and stretched his arm outward, lightly stroking her cheek. A lazy smile graced her features as she nestled into his touch, seemingly loving the small gesture. "I would have gone back to help you, but I crashed as soon as I got home. Something just went wrong last night, and I know I should have spoken to you about it instead of storming off like that."

Sam's eyes opened and she slightly lifted her head from her locker. "Yeah, what was up with that anyway? I spoke to Alyssa about the incident between you guys upstairs last night."

Danny instantly felt like he was drowning in a sea of anxiety, which made it difficult for him to breathe. He parted his lips to respond, but nothing would come out. It was almost like a hand was clawing up his throat and dragging his words back down. "What?" he shakily managed to say to her several seconds later.

"She said something about these guys insulting her at the party and that you got mad at her for agreeing with what they said." His eyebrows rose high on his forehead, but he didn't dare interrupt her. "She's a good person, and while I think you getting mad at her for talking down on herself was justified, don't let your friendship fall apart because of someone else's opinion."

Though Danny was slightly relieved that Alyssa didn't tell her the truth, he was more so irritated because he felt like he was lying to her. Each lie was dropping more and more dirt on top of him, and soon, he was going to be trapped six feet under. "You're right, Sam. I guess I'll go and talk to her now since we have the same class." He inched his lips closer to hers and kissed her briefly before pulling away. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Later."

The two then separated, going in different directions towards their third period class. The closer Danny got to his class, the more his anger thrummed in his veins. It didn't matter how much of an amazing moment he could be having; each time his thoughts cycled back to the bathroom incident, he could feel his fury springing to life. He was harping on a drama-free school year, but thanks to Alyssa, that was going to be impossible.

He made it to his classroom in due time, stopping for a second to greet his teacher. Ms. Reyes smiled warmly at him and returned the greeting with the same amount of energy, the only difference being that hers was genuine. He continued past her and into the classroom, where Alyssa was waving him over to her desk with that same odd, bone-chilling smile she usually wore.

He wasn't even about to pretend that he tolerated her existence. He turned over his shoulder and approached Ms. Reyes slowly, clearing his throat to announce his presence. "Excuse me, ma'am?" The woman's gaze flicked towards him with a curious hum. "Um, my seat is directly under the air conditioner, and I usually don't complain, but I'm freezing almost everyday I come here. May I move my seat, please?"

It was a lie; hell, the cold didn't bother him because he was half-ghost, but if he told her that he just didn't feel comfortable sitting beside Alyssa, she would most likely tell him to ignore her or deal with it. His excuse was a good one, but he was only hoping that she didn't dismissively tell him to start bringing a jacket to school with him.

Instead of doing that, she nodded her head and swept her hand through the air. "Sure, Daniel. Take a seat up front from now on."

If it was appropriate, he would have done a backflip right then and there out of joy, but he kept his composure as he thanked the woman and walked back into the room. He crossed the classroom and, rather than turning towards the direction of his original seat, took a seat directly in front of Ms. Reyes's desk. He so much wanted to just swivel his head to the side and catch Alyssa's distraught facial expression, but he kept his eyes glued to the front board.

That was pretty much all he did for the remainder of the period, though there was a gnawing feeling in the back of his mind that she was watching him. It was such an eccentric feeling that he could feel a shudder creeping up his spine. He felt the impulse to turn around, but he fought off the urge and tried to keep his attention trained on his teacher as she droned on about some math problem on the board.

As soon as the period drew to an end, he abruptly shoved his notebook and his pencil into his backpack and rose to his feet, preparing to book it out of there. There were a few students already in front of him, unintentionally blocking his path as they all tried to leave. Once they were out of the door, so was he, but before he was able to roam down the hallway, someone's hand hooked onto the back of his shirt and forced him to the side.

"Why'd you move your seat, babe?" Alyssa pursed her lips and cocked her head to the side, such an innocent action for someone who greatly resembled the devil. "It's not because of what happened last night, is it?"

Danny swatted her hand away from him in disgust like it was a mosquito trying to land on his skin. "Nothing happened last night." He attempted to side-step her, but she quickly moved in front of him and briefly spread her arms out with a scoff.

"How could you say that?" She took a step back and moved her hand to her chest almost dramatically. "Last night was special and you know it was. You can't deny the amount of sexual tension there was in that room."

"I don't know about sexual, but there was definitely tension." He shut his eyes and blew out a deep sigh, but the moment he felt her hand graze against his cheek, he shot his eyes open and leaned far away from her. "Look, Alyssa, I don't like you like that, and after that stunt you pulled last night, I don't even like you as a friend. I'm asking you nicely to just stay away from me and Sam since you can't respect our relationship."

Alyssa jerked her head back and reached for his shoulder, but once he pulled away from her, her lips quivered. "Y-You don't mean that," she said quietly, almost menacingly, but he apparently did because he shook his head and walked away from her. "Danny?" Tears welled up in her eyes once she realized he wasn't coming back. She raised her voice, ignoring the fact that her doing so caused a small crowd to form. "Danny, don't you dare walk away from me. You'll regret this!"

But he was already gone.


	10. Chapter Ten: December's Encounter

**Author's Note: I'm just setting their anniversary date for December in this story.**

* * *

 **Chapter Ten**

About three weeks rolled by with no Alyssa. She avoided Danny, Sam, and Tucker like the plague, and while Sam was confused as to why, Danny and Tucker weren't affected by her absence. Danny was still holding a grudge against her because of what she did at the party, but he was also still upset about what she pulled in the hallway at school the other day.

It was now a crisp Saturday evening in December; the day of Danny and Sam's two year anniversary to be exact. The couple decided to celebrate it by going out to eat and then watching a movie together. Neither of them wanted to do anything too extra, so they chose the more mellow date idea.

They had already finished up at the restaurant they chose to eat at together and were currently walking to the movie theater. It was a beautiful night for a flight, but the two decided to head there on foot and enjoy each other's presence.

Aside from the amount of times Danny's ghost sense was triggered, they were having a great time. His parents, Valerie, and Tucker promised him they would handle any ghosts that popped up so that his evening wouldn't be ruined. He knew Sam wouldn't mind helping him catch a few ghosts, but still, he wanted that night to be perfect.

"You know, this anniversary was probably better than the last one." Sam glanced down at her hand, which was holding onto his as they ambled down the sidewalk. "I can't really compare them because they're both special, though we did the exact same thing both times."

A bright smile blossomed onto his face as he gently squeezed her hand. "Hey, don't pin that on me." He laughed a bit and navigated around the corner of the street they were walking down. "You're the one who didn't want anything too extravagant, so I had to settle for something more calm. You know I'd go all out for you. Just give me the word."

"I don't want you to go all out for me. I really don't mind doing the same thing every anniversary as long as it's with you." She jammed her free hand into the pocket of her coat and shivered involuntarily as a tender breeze swept through the air. "And as long as it takes place indoors."

"Oh, are you cold? I can't feel a thing," Danny teased with a playful smirk forming on his lips, though it was somewhat true. "I'm just kidding." His hand slipped from hers and he draped his arm across her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. "Let's get you inside. We aren't too far away."

Sam briefly rolled her head onto his shoulder as they continued down the sidewalk, edging closer towards the movie theater. "Are you excited to see the movie? I know the description made it sound like some boring romance film, but there's horror somewhere in there, too."

"I really don't mind what kind of movie we're watching as long as I get to watch it with you." He stuck his tongue out to show that he was still joking around and, in response, she chuckled and elbowed him in the side. "Nah, but I'm serious. Anything we watch is good enough for me as long as I can be with you."

"Okay, Casanova, let's hurry up and get there before the movie starts."

After they started to pick up the pace, they arrived to the theater less than five minutes later. Danny paid for the movie tickets, but only after he argued with Sam about going half and half on the price until he eventually convinced her to let him pay.

Their movie wasn't scheduled to start until eight-twenty-five, and since it was only eight-ten, they just wandered around the lobby of the theater and checked out a few of the games that were stationed there. After losing most of them, they decided to grab a few snacks from the concession stand before heading into the auditorium.

"You know, we could've brought Tucker along with us if he had a date." Sam's amethyst eyes surveyed the food menu closely while Danny waited patiently for the few people ahead of them in line to move forward. "It'd be a nice double date."

He scoffed upon hearing that, but his lips rose into a slight smile. "Who, with Val? I don't think that would end well, but it would definitely be interesting to find out." The line moved up a bit, so he inched forward and rubbed his hands together.

Sam tilted her head to the left and pursed her lips. "Well, sure, but I was imagining him with someone else. Someone less... hostile, like Alyssa." Because her eyes were still focused on the menu, she wasn't able to catch the boy next to her stiffen. "Don't know what we did to that girl to make her ditch us like that, though."

"We didn't do anything to her." He glanced around the lobby for no apparent reason, but once his gaze swung to a certain someone, he instantly regretted looking in that direction at all. "And speak of the devil."

Alyssa was standing with a random boy at a somewhat far distance by the entrance. They were laughing together, but something about her smile still sent chills racing up Danny's spine. She didn't seem to notice him, but then again, he and Sam weren't exactly close enough for her to see them.

A line appeared between Sam's brows as they pushed together. "Speak of who?" She tried to follow his gaze, but he quickly brought his hands to her shoulders and prevented her from turning around. Luckily for him, the last set of people in front of them happened to leave, so he gently nudged her forward before moving in front of her.

"Can I just have a large buttered popcorn with a large Sprite soda?" He kept his request simple because each time he and Sam went to the movies, she would sneak some of his food, though she always had her own. That, and because he was trying to get the hell out of the lobby before Alyssa spotted him.

Sam stepped closer to the counter and drummed her fingertips along the surface. "I'll just take a small soft pretzel. I'm still a little full from eating at the restaurant."

The man behind the desk nodded briskly and rang up their order, flatly stating their total a few seconds later. Danny was about to let her pay, but because she was taking awhile to find a decent bill to give the man, he covered the cost once again. That irritated her, but he honestly didn't care because Alyssa was slowly approaching the concession stand.

They got their food a little under five minutes later. He grabbed the bucket of popcorn and the drink, letting Sam carry her own pretzel since she was already nibbling on it. He was balancing the snacks in his hand whilst trying to usher her into the auditorium as quickly as possible. Just as Alyssa stopped at the concession stand, they made it into the room.

"Jeez, where's the fire? We have time, Danny." Sam rushed to keep up with him, but he was already jogging up the steps of the auditorium. She sighed softly when she didn't receive a response and followed him towards the back row of seats. "The previews barely started."

"I know, but I just want to get a good seat." He sat in the far back of the theater, glad that he successfully slipped away from Alyssa. The last thing he wanted was to bump into her and deal with her being delusional once again. "Come on."

Sam pushed down the seat beside him and lowered herself into it before taking another bite of her pretzel. "I'm here, I'm here." She cupped a hand over her mouth and chewed just as one of the previews began. Danny leaned back in his seat and flicked his eyes towards the screen, preparing himself to enjoy the movie.

The theater was relatively empty, with about nine other people in there with them. It was good news for them because they didn't want to be in a room full of people who would talk through the entire movie. Just as they got cozy and comfortable in their seats, two other people entered the auditorium and started walking over to the last row in the back, right where they were seated.

Danny thought they were going to try and cross him and Sam to get to the seats beside them, so he pushed himself backwards to give them room to pass by, but to his confusion, they stopped right next to him. It was too dark to make out any faces, but once the big screen flashed to a different preview, the color drained from his face as he made out the face of who was standing beside him.

"Hello, Danny and Sam. It's a pleasure to see you guys here." With a broad smile, Alyssa flicked her hair over her shoulder and motioned to the guy standing next to her. "This is Elijah. He's a really good friend of mine." Elijah waved, but Danny merely gave him a curt, dismissive nod of his head in response.

"Look, it's our anniversary, and Sam and I were kind of on a date, so—"

"Oh, you were?" Alyssa sounded apologetic, but he knew she was anything but sorry. She retained her smile and, instead of walking away to find another seat, sat right next to him and gestured for Elijah to sit on the opposite side of her. "We can turn this into a double date. No problem."

Sam, sensing her boyfriend's growing frustration, curled her arm around his shoulders and leaned towards him. "Hey, relax. We can always continue our anniversary later at my house since my parents and my grandma won't be home until tomorrow afternoon."

Something about her seductive tone made his heart flutter, but as soon as he remembered that Alyssa was present, his jovial mood slipped. "Fine, but this is a one time hangout." He dug his hand into his bucket of popcorn and clawed out a handful of the snack before shoving it into his mouth. Sam withdrew her arm from around his shoulders and sat upright, returning her attention to the cinema screen.

For the next fifty minutes, all was well in the group. Elijah dozed off by then, but Danny and Sam were both completely distracted by the movie, that is, until he felt a hand creep towards a certain part of his body that caused him to shut his eyes and bite his lip to suppress a moan. Sam was playing a dangerous game with him, and after he lowered his hand to hers to play an even more dangerous game, his eyes shot open.

She wasn't wearing anything on her fingers that evening, so he was puzzled that he suddenly felt jewelry there. Secondly, the hand wasn't coming from her direction, but rather Alyssa's, so once he guessed that the hand stroking him didn't belong to who he thought it did, he flew out of his seat so fast that he accidentally flung his entire drink right onto Sam. She gasped in surprise and hopped up from her seat as he started apologizing profusely.

"It's fine, Danny, but jeez, does the movie scare you that bad?" She awkwardly stood there for a few seconds as he retrieved the fallen cup, then he began guiding her down the steps of the auditorium and out of the double doors. She may have been keeping her cool about having a drink knocked onto her, but he was freaking out. Both because of the drink and Alyssa, who was way too comfortable with groping him.

He understood that anger almost always clouded a situation and that remaining calm usually diffused it, but all of that went out of the window for him. A fresh swell of infuriation rose within him, and as much as he tried to conceal it, it was becoming difficult to keep it in.

As Sam went into the restroom to clean herself up, he waited around for her in the lobby with his hands jammed into his front pockets. He was beyond pissed off, but he was even more upset that he couldn't tell her why because if he did, he would also have to tell her about the incident at Tucker's party, and all of that was information he preferred not to tell her on their two year anniversary.

He spun over his shoulder to head towards the restroom five minutes later to check on her, but in doing so, he bumped into Alyssa. He thought he was doing a good job at controlling his anger, but he figured he was wrong when the girl pointed to his eyes and laughed. "The whole 'angry green eyes' thing you do is pretty cute, you know."

"I thought I told you to stay away from me and Sam." He compressed his lips and glared at her, hoping she would take the hint and walk away from him. She didn't, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Elijah standing at a distance with his arms crossed.

"I did stay away from you guys, but how long do you really think you're going to be able to keep the truth from her?" She started to slowly encircle him, leaving him no choice but to watch her. "Don't fight this. We could be happy together, but because you insist on being so difficult—"

"Stop." He cut her off so harshly that he attracted some attention from nearby people. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down before he said something extremely rude to her. "I don't know what's going on in that sick little head of yours, but there is no we and there will never be one."

Alyssa pushed her tongue against the inside of her cheek and bowed her head, lowering her gaze for a second. "I think you already know by now that I'm not going down without a fight," she told him quietly. He laughed bitterly and dared himself to take a step forward.

"Then bring the best you've got." He gently shoved her aside as he marched back over to the restroom. He didn't have the time nor the patience for her and her supposed empty threats. All she did was irritate him and spoil his mood for the evening, which wasn't fair to Sam at all.

She was exiting the restroom just as he arrived, brushing off her shirt with a napkin. "I'm kind of dry now, but I'm ready to go home." She crumpled up the napkin and lifted her head to frown at him. "I'm sorry. I'll pay you back for the movie tickets."

"Nah, don't worry about it. Let's just go." He placed a tender hand on her back and led her to the exit, not bothering to chance one last glance at Alyssa, who he was certain was staring at them as they departed. He wanted nothing more than to go home and somehow forget about what happened inside of the theater, but he knew that wasn't going to happen.

He took Sam home immediately and followed her when she went upstairs to her room. While she changed clothes in the bathroom, he sat on her bed and stared sightlessly ahead of him. Part of him was curious as to how far Alyssa would go, but he also wasn't sure if he wanted to find out. He was just about to sneak out into the hallway and call Tucker to explain the events of that night when Sam exited the bathroom.

"Oh, you're back." He exhaled deeply and twisted his body around to face her as she started walking briskly towards him. "Listen, Sam, I—"

"Sh. Don't talk." She pressed her palms against his chest and pushed him down onto the bed. She followed up by climbing on top of him and straddling him before leaning in to capture his lips aggressively with hers. It wasn't that he didn't like it, but he was far too distracted by his thoughts to enjoy it.

He tried to get her attention, but she slipped her tongue into his mouth to shut him up. He was perfectly aware that she was trying to have sex with him, but the only reason he was resisting was because he didn't think it would be fair to engage in anything sexual with her for the first time when he wasn't in the mood for it.

He slightly moved his head to the side so that his lips pulled away from hers. "Sam, stop." Her eyebrows moved together and she frowned, appearing hurt. "No, no, it's not you. It's just... I want our first time to be special, and after tonight, my sour mood isn't going to make it special for us."

She tipped her head to the left and retained her puzzled expression. "Is it because of the whole drink thing? Look, it was just—"

"It's not about that." She crawled off of him and allowed him to sit upright. He leaned his upper body upward and pushed himself back a bit, gazing into her eyes after doing so. "I promise it's not you. There's just something going on with me, but I'll tell you when the time is right. Just trust me."

"I— okay." She dropped the subject faster than he expected her to, but that was probably because she trusted him even more than she did when they were fourteen. That only made him feel ten times more guilty about lying to her than he already felt, and for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth.


	11. Chapter Eleven: The Truth

**Chapter Eleven**

Sam's eyelids slowly fluttered open at the sound of someone tapping on her room door the following morning. She rolled over in her bed and cast a glance towards the digital clock on her nightstand. "It's not even nine yet, mom. What do you want?"

"Good morning, Miss Manson." The friendly voice certainly did not belong to her mother, but rather her family's butler, Bailey. "There is a young lady by the name of Alyssa who is currently downstairs. She's urgently requesting to see you."

Her eyebrows curled together as she positioned herself upright. "Alyssa?" She didn't know why Alyssa was at her house so early or how the girl even knew where she lived, but she decided not to question it and to just go downstairs and see what was going on. "Uh, tell her I'll be right there."

"Yes, ma'am." She waited until his heavy footsteps became faint before slipping from beneath her blankets and standing to her feet. She wasn't planning on getting all dressed up just to go downstairs, but she wasn't going to be completely unpresentable either.

She dragged her elastic hair tie from her wrist and gathered her hair into her hands, preparing to pull it into a messy bun. As she did that, she crossed over to the other side of her room and started for the bathroom. Something about Alyssa's request apparently being urgent caused her to move faster as she brushed her teeth and washed her face.

After she finished freshening up, she made her way downstairs, suppressing a long yawn. Her only goal was to finish up her conversation with Alyssa as quickly as possible so that she could catch up on some more sleep before her parents and her grandmother arrived home.

She found said girl awkwardly standing in the center of her living room. She looked torn between sitting or standing, but once she noticed Sam, she rushed over to the girl. "Look, Sam, I have to talk to you. Danny might want me to keep this a secret, but I can't anymore."

Sam really didn't know what to say, nor did she understand what Alyssa was talking about. "O-Okay..." She wrapped her arms over her stomach and took a few more steps into the living room. "What are you talking about? Keep what a secret?"

Alyssa's eyebrows quivered and she parted her lips like she was about to reply, but then she pressed them together again. Why she was so hesitant was beyond Sam, but once she finally started to explain what was bothering her, her discomfort made sense. "I wasn't being completely honest about what happened at the party."

Sam leaned her right shoulder against the living room wall and pressed the side of her head against it. "What do you mean?" She was trying her best to be patient, but the wonderful idea of sleep was practically calling her name. She wanted to heed its call, but she managed to disregard it and focus on Alyssa.

"Danny came onto me that night in the bathroom. I was in there when you stopped by to check on him, but he made me keep quiet until you left." She swept her fingers underneath her eyes and wiped away the tears that collected there. "He forced me to stay away from you and Tucker when I told him I was going to tell you what happened, and when I said no, he stormed off."

Sam felt her heart crack and crash into her stomach. "That can't be right." She didn't want to believe what she was hearing, but the more she thought about it, the more it seemed true. Danny had been acting strange around her lately, especially whenever Alyssa was brought up. "Is that why he was acting so tense around you last night?"

"I guess." The girl wiped at her eyes again and sniffed. "While you were in the bathroom at the theater yesterday, he snapped at me and told me to stay away from you guys. That's why I've been keeping out of your way. I just wanted to tell you this because it's been eating me alive. I tried catching you in the lobby before the movie, but he was walking so fast with you."

Sam raised her hand over her heart and slowly slid her back down against the wall. The world seemed to crash around her; she really, really didn't want to believe Alyssa, but everything she said explained each of Danny's actions. Instead of overthinking herself to death, however, she was going to have him march right over to her house and explain himself.

"Thank you, Alyssa. I'll handle it." She spun on her heels and swept out of the living room like a ferocious tornado. Anger spread through her like a wildfire, but she tried to keep it under control until she spoke with Danny and got his side of the story.

* * *

Danny was surprisingly awake. It was difficult for him to get much sleep when his mind was still swirling. He was inwardly kicking himself for not telling Sam the truth from the beginning, but he was only holding back because nothing like that ever happened to him before. He was concerned about what her reaction would be and what she would do with the information once she found out.

He grabbed his cell phone from his nightstand and dialed in Tucker's number. He was positive the boy was still sleeping, but he never usually minded receiving early phone calls from any of his friends, especially when needing advice was the reason. That was just one of the many things Danny loved about his best friend.

"What's up, man?" came Tucker's groggy response once he answered the phone. "It's really early."

"I know, and I'm sorry for waking you up." He sat up in bed and inclined his head, bringing his hand to his temple. "I just need advice. I want to tell Sam what happened at the party, but because I made it seem like nothing happened when she first asked about it, she's probably going to get mad at me."

Tucker fell silent for a few seconds before a shifting noise was heard from his side of the call. "She's probably going to get mad at you for keeping this from her more than she'll get mad at you for what actually happened. Alyssa came onto you, and that wasn't your fault because you didn't initiate it. It was sexual harassment. You're only at fault for keeping it from her. It's been almost a month. You need to tell her before she hears a twisted version of the story from Alyssa."

Danny fell back onto the bed with a long sigh. "Okay, which one of Sam's books did you steal that from?"

"No books my dear, clueless friend. Just knowledge."

"Yeah, well, I'm going to need a lot more than knowledge to get me out of this situation." He folded an arm behind his head and gazed up at the ceiling. "Alyssa said she's not going down without a fight. She really thinks there's something going on between us."

Tucker hummed into the phone. "I usually give better advice when I've been through the situation myself, so I'm pretty helpless here. I've never even had a girl obsess over me before. You'd better handle that situation quickly before her obsession turns into something more."

"Yeah, I will." Danny faintly heard the front door being shut, and since his parents were down in the basement, that meant it could only be one person coming inside. "I think Sam's here. I'll talk to you later, Tuck." He hung up and carelessly dropped his phone onto his bed. "She didn't say she was coming over so early. I don't even have time to change into anything decent before she comes in here."

He peeled off his blankets and rolled onto his side, pushing himself upright again before getting out of bed. He could hear Sam climbing the stairs, so he raked his fingers through his hair to somewhat appear straightened up. "Well, here goes nothing." He expected her to casually walk in with the same smile she usually reserved for him each morning, but instead, she stormed in with her face twisted into a scowl. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh's right." She closed, or slammed, his room door and crossed her arms over her chest. "Is there anything you want to tell me, Danny?" She narrowed her eyes onto him as he took a step back. "Maybe something related to a certain birthday party we threw our best friend almost a month ago?"

Danny felt the muscles in his face tighten as his heart sank. How was it possible that she already knew what happened? "H-How do you know about that?" His shocked expression and his wide eyes gave the Goth before him the answer she was seeking.

"So it is true." She stepped back in disgust and moved her fingertips to her lips. He was absolutely perplexed as to what she was talking about, that is, until she continued speaking. "Alyssa was telling the truth. How the hell could you do that to me? With her?"

"Alyssa?" His face grew pale and his eyes enlarged even more. "Sam, whatever she told you, she's lying about it. I promise you that's not what happened at the party." But Sam wasn't trying to hear excuses. She dropped her arm and clenched her fist, advancing closer to Danny with her nostrils flared.

"Oh, no? Then tell me what happened." Her lips compressed into a flat line and she cocked her head to the side slightly, impatiently waiting for him to explain his side of the story.

"I was using the bathroom at the party and she just walked in and started forcing herself onto me! I pushed her away and was still pushing her away when you swung by to check on me, but I didn't say anything because I knew it was going to look worse than it was. I swear that's the truth."

"But that's the thing, Danny. How can I trust what you're saying? Why did it take you a month to tell me this?" She pressed her palms to her forehead and slammed her eyes shut, taking a few deep breaths before lowering her arms and turning to him again. "If Alyssa didn't say anything, would you have even told me about this?"

"Of course I would have told you!"

"When? Whenever it was convenient for you?"

"Sam." He clenched his teeth together and growled lowly, drilling his eyes into her angry-clouded ones. "She's lying. I promise you she came onto me first. I left the party upset because of what she did, not because of something that happened with some guys upstairs. She's been coming onto me ever since then and has been threatening me. That's why she randomly popped up last night."

"Why didn't you just tell me this the night it happened? Or even the day after? I specifically asked you what was up and you lied to me." Sam looked away for a second. "You let me be friends with this girl and you let me defend her. Contrary to popular belief, you're supposed to tell your girlfriend when another girl hits on you."

Danny threw his hands up with a slight scoff. "What was I supposed to say? I was sexually harassed by some obsessive fan girl. That's not something you can easily bring up to someone you love."

"Yeah, well, now you're the guy who was sexually harassed by some obsessive fan girl and lied to me about it." She glared into his eyes and shook her head slowly as anger consumed her. "We've always trusted each other with anything and everything. Why wasn't I worth the truth this time?"

He reached his hand out to her, but she pulled away from him and retained her furious expression. "Look, Sam, I'm sorry. It's not that I didn't want to tell you what happened because I did. Ask Tucker. You told me you loved me that same night and I didn't want to spoil it. I didn't know how to bring it up to you."

"The supposed evil one in this whole situation came to me first and told me what 'happened' before my own boyfriend did. You know me more than anybody else, Danny. I wouldn't have gotten mad at you if you just told me this when it happened. If she really came onto you, then you weren't guilty of anything, so how could you look me straight in my face and lie to me? Pretend that everything was okay?"

Danny let out a defeated sigh and briefly ducked his head. "I don't know. I honestly don't, but if I could redo that entire night over again, I'd make sure this never happened." Sam flattened her gaze and tucked her lower lip between her teeth, chewing it to stifle any comebacks that threatened to slip out. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this."

"No." She mustered up the courage to look into his eyes again, flashing him a look so cold that he damn near shivered. "You're just sorry that she told me about this first." And then she was out of there, brushing past him and stalking out of the room. He should have gone after her, but he didn't.

Because in a way, she was right.


	12. Chapter Twelve: Red Lipstick

**Chapter Twelve**

"So, long story short, Sam found out about the bathroom party incident and is mad at you because you kept it a secret from her?" Tucker tugged on the sleeves of his jacket and rolled his eyes. "Call me Future Foley. I pretty much predicted this happening."

"Whatever." Danny panned his eyes around the campus of the school in a search for Alyssa, who hadn't shown up yet. "She hasn't spoken to me since yesterday, but she has every right to be pissed at me. I shouldn't have kept something like this from her. I should have just taken your advice."

Tucker raised his eyebrows and moved his hands to the pockets of his jacket. "Hey, don't beat yourself up over this. Just do something nice for her, and once you guys get back on good terms, cut Alyssa off cold turkey."

"She's been cut off cold turkey for a month now."

"Oh. Well, still."

Danny nodded once and looked over his shoulder to see Alyssa walking towards the entrance of the building. "She's here. I'll be right back." He spun on his heels and made a beeline for the girl, who was about to continue straight past him until she caught his eye and stopped moving forward.

"Danny." She sized him up for a second before making eye contact with him again. "To what do I owe this totally unexpected pleasure?"

"What did you tell Sam yesterday?" His voice was surprisingly calm, which confused him because the last thing he wanted to do was talk to her. Her lips rose into a small smile as she shifted her body to the side so that she was now fully facing him.

"I told her the truth." She curled a lock of her hair behind her ear and tightened her arms around the stack of books she was holding. "I did you a favor. I wanted her to breakup with you so that we could finally be together. You're welcome, by the way."

He snorted and lifted his finger to the side of his head, scratching it and resisting the strong urge to roll his eyes. "Well, she didn't break up with me, so your plan failed." Alyssa's lips pressed together firmly and her expression darkened. "Why are you trying so hard to ruin my relationship? Why can't you just let us be happy together? There are plenty of other fish in the sea."

"But I only want one specific fish." She clicked her tongue and winked at him before starting to move around him, but he roughly grasped her arm and tugged her back to the front of him. "Aggressiveness. I love it. Squeeze me harder."

He immediately released her arm and scrunched his face up into a grimace. "What the hell is wrong with you?" She looked towards the ground and breathed out slowly, not answering him. "Look, I've tried being nice to you, but you're not listening to me. I don't want anything to do with you. There will never be anything between us, even if Sam happened to not be in the picture anymore. Get it?"

"Got it."

"Good." No longer interested in conversing with her, he walked back over to Tucker, who was now standing with Sam and having a conversation with her. He had second thoughts about approaching them because she looked pretty ticked off, but he chanced it anyway.

"Oh, hey, Danny." Tucker looked conflicted; he wanted to ask Danny about his conversation with Alyssa, but he wasn't sure if he was allowed to bring up the subject around Sam, who apparently didn't see them talking together. "What's up?"

"I, uh, just spoke to Alyssa." Danny ran his hand over the nape of his neck and glanced over at Sam. She furrowed her brows and glared at him in return. "You still mad?"

"You still keeping secrets?"

Tucker, sensing that the couple needed a moment alone, lifted a finger and held it in the air as he walked off in the opposite direction. Danny sighed softly and slid his hand downward, flicking it up once before dropping his arm to his side. "I know I shouldn't have kept this from you, Sam, but I'm sorry I did. I don't want us to fall apart, especially not right now."

A sharp exhale whisked from Sam's nostrils as her eyes closed slowly. "I don't want us to fall apart either." She opened her eyes and swept her tongue across her lips, smacking them together afterwards. "I just want to know why you didn't feel comfortable with telling me what happened."

"It's not that I wasn't comfortable. I guess I was just worried about what the outcome would be." Danny inclined his head and looked to the ground, but she bent her forefinger and caught his chin with her knuckle. As she raised his head again, his eyes retraced their path to hers.

"Let's talk about this later." Her arm fell to her side and she turned away from him, making her way towards the entrance of the school. He just stood there for a few seconds, watching her until she disappeared into a crowd of students heading to their second period class.

He now loathed even days at school because that meant he had study hall with Alyssa, which also meant that she could talk to him whenever she wanted to because they sat right next to each other. He couldn't change his seat because their teacher made their seats permanent the first day of school.

But to his great pleasure, she wasn't there when he walked into his fourth period class. She wasn't there at lunch either, which was a relief to him because he didn't know what Sam was going to do or say to her if they ran into each other again. Tucker left school early because he had a doctor's appointment to go to, leaving the couple alone for the rest of the day.

"So, am I forgiven?" Danny, who was sitting across from Sam and holding her hand, asked hopefully. He apologized sincerely for everything that happened last month, so now he was just waiting for her response. Her facial expression looked thoughtful, but he still couldn't tell if she was leaning towards forgiveness.

"Before I fully accept your apology, I'm going to ask you this again." She hunched forward and lay her free hand on the surface of the table, penetrating his eyes with hers. "Is there anything else you want to tell me? Any secrets you might still be keeping?"

"Aside from Alyssa groping me at the movie theater Saturday? No." When he felt her fingers tighten around his, he frowned and moved his other hand on top of hers. "I'm just getting this off my chest. She did it when we were watching the movie, which is why I jumped up like that. I was in such a sour mood for the rest of the night because of what she did."

"Oh." She remained silent for a few seconds, dragging her eyes down to their interlocked hands as she pondered over the new information. "I don't know what to think about all of this." She closed her eyes briefly and chuckled mirthlessly. "I wish you told me all of this while it was happening."

"Again, I'm sorry. I promise I'll tell you everything that happens from now on, no matter how ugly it is." He smiled once her body relaxed and she looked up at him. "Give me a chance to show you how serious I am about this. You can trust me."

"It's Alyssa I don't trust, especially after everything she's done so far." She pulled her hand away from Danny's and clenched it into a fist, pushing it to her cheek once she propped her elbow on the table. "Now I'm uncomfortable with her sharing classes with you."

"I'm going to the guidance counselor tomorrow, so hopefully I can convince her to change my schedule." He was hoping to be done with the entire Alyssa situation, so if changing his third and fourth period class was the solution, then he was definitely taking that route. "Believe me when I say I'm uncomfortable sharing classes with her, too."

Skepticism flashed in Sam's eyes as she hummed once. "Did she actually transfer from her old school? I feel like she got kicked out instead." Danny shrugged and snagged one of her grapes from her bowl of mixed fruits. Her brows wrinkled in return, but she didn't comment on his action. "I should dig deeper into this girl. You know, see what her deal is."

"Or we can just pretend she doesn't exist." He tossed the grape into his mouth and chewed it much too casually for someone who was still internally freaking out. He wanted to believe that Alyssa was all mouth and no action, but something about her persistent demeanor struck a chord of concern within him.

"Now you know that's easier said than done." Sam drew a deep breath and leaned upright in her seat. "When you spoke to her earlier, what did she say?" She noticed how tentative he became after hearing her question, so she added, "Don't hold back. Give it to me raw."

He almost lost her due to him holding back secrets, so it was no surprise that he gave in and told her the truth. "She wanted you to break up with me so that she and I can 'finally be together' and all that nonsense. I guess that's the reason she lied to you yesterday."

Sam's brows sank and she smacked her lips together. She looked upset, but if she was, she wasn't voicing it. "Interesting," was her only reply. Danny frowned and reached out for her hand, but she shifted it to the side so that he couldn't grab it. His fingers curled into his palm and he lowered his hand with a small sigh.

"You're mad at me again." She shook her head and averted her eyes to the left. He tapped his fingertips along the table and eyed her closely. "Yeah, you are. You wanted it raw, so that's how I'm delivering it." He flattened his hand as the corners of his lips quirked upward. "Don't worry about her. Once I switch my classes, we'll be completely rid of her."

Sam hummed gently and started gathering her untouched lunch, leaving the bowl of mixed fruits for him to finish. "Yeah." She rose from her seat and adjusted her backpack strap on her shoulder. "You'd better hope so. As for my forgiveness, I'll get back to you on that."

His smile faded, but when she flashed him a smile of her own, his returned almost immediately. "I'll be waiting for the verdict, judge."

* * *

After school ended, Danny was left to fly home alone because Sam's parents picked her up instead of letting her walk with him. He didn't really mind too much because while he enjoyed her company, he wasn't exactly dependent on it, especially when he wanted some time to himself.

He swung his front door open and stepped inside, but as soon as he did, he stopped in his tracks and looked up at his parents, who were both standing there and glaring at him. He mentally went down a list of all the things he could've possibly done wrong to piss them off, but he came up with nothing.

"What did I do?" He already knocked down some of his chores before school, so they wouldn't be mad about him not finishing all of them yet. His grades were pretty decent so far and he didn't get in trouble during any of his classes, so none of his teachers should have called them to complain.

Maddie, for some reason, took offense to his small question. Her eyebrows snapped together and she moved her hands to her hips, preparing to chastise him. "Don't play innocent with us, young man." Jack crossed his arms across his chest and, looking equally as stern as his wife did, joined in on the scolding.

"We don't know what you were looking for in your room earlier this morning, but you should have cleaned up your mess afterwards." He leaned in towards his son and reduced his voice to a whisper. "You know, so I don't have to do it."

Danny was bewildered; he was absolutely certain that his room was clean before he left. "What mess are you talking about?" He wasn't looking for anything, and even if he was, he wouldn't make a mess and just leave it there. "My room was clean before I left."

"Don't start with the excuses, Danny, and don't try to say a ghost did it either." Maddie sharpened her glare and stabbed her forefinger towards the staircase. "Now you march right upstairs and clean your room this instant."

He didn't want to say anything else and risk getting grounded, so he reluctantly obeyed his mother's demand and went straight up to his room. He didn't know what mess she was referring to, but as he inched closer to his bedroom door, he couldn't help but wonder how untidy his room looked.

And then he found out.

Different articles of his clothing were strewn along the floor. Picture frames with photos of him, Sam, and Tucker in it were knocked onto the floor from the nightstand. All of the trash from his garbage bin had been dumped onto his bed, which was messed up as well. His entire room looked atrocious, as though a bunch of monkeys were trapped in his room for a few days.

He wanted to believe that a ghost trashed his room, and he almost did until he noticed that his bathroom door was slightly cracked open. Most ghosts just phased through doors, so he was slightly curious for a second. He figured his bathroom was messed up as well, but after he walked in to check, his mouth fell open.

Written across the bathroom mirror in red lipstick was Alyssa's signature with a heart.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Imagine how much shit Danny would be in if his parents actually checked his bathroom instead of just opening his bedroom door and glancing around the room.**


	13. Chapter Thirteen: After School

**Chapter Thirteen**

Sam rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and glared at the mirror in Danny's bathroom, surveying the lipstick-written words closely. "You know, this girl is really starting to get on my nerves." She sprayed some degreaser onto the mirror and dragged a cotton cloth across it. "She broke into your house and destroyed your property. File for a restraining order against her."

Tucker, who was helping Danny clean his room, rolled his eyes. "Spoken like a true Manson." He swept up a few pieces of broken glass into a dustpan, squinting down at the floor afterwards to make sure he didn't miss anything. "She's just a nut. All he has to do is switch out of her classes and tell his parents what's going on."

"Please. There's no way I'm telling my parents about this." Danny was sitting on his bed, putting half of his clothes on hangers and folding the rest of them. "I'm just going to keep this private until it escalates."

"It shouldn't have to escalate." Sam paused in wiping off the mirror to turn around and look at him incredulously. "You're supposed to stop a fire before it grows. If you just keep giving her a slap on the wrist each time she does something bad, she's only going to get worse."

"She's not a dog." Tucker dumped out the contents of the dustpan into a black garbage bag before continuing to sweep the room. "In a way, though, Sam has a point. Sit her down and talk to her about her actions. She may not realize that what she's doing actually falls into the category of lunatic behavior."

"Sit her down and talk to her?" The Goth scoffed and flicked her hand through the air, lowering her eyelids partially. "What is she, a child? She's old enough to know what she's doing, so I'm pretty sure she's aware that she's displaying lunatic behavior."

Danny, who frankly wasn't in the mood to listen to the pair bicker, intervened by groaning loudly. "Will you guys cut it out?" Tucker fell silent and finished up his sweeping while Sam returned to cleaning the mirror. "I'll go to the guidance counselor tomorrow and get my classes switched. See? No restraining order and no talking session necessary."

"Am I the only one taking this seriously?" Sam dropped the cloth onto the counter and walked out of the bathroom, spreading her arms apart in disbelief. "This girl sexually harassed you twice and broke into your house, but your only course of action is to switch your classes? Do you honestly think that's going to get rid of her?"

Danny set his clothes to the side and stood up, twisting his face into a scowl. "What are you talking about? I don't want to pursue this legally, but I just might if she does something else. Let me start off doing something minor before I jump into anything too crazy."

She brought her palm to her forehead and exhaled sharply before swinging her hand out and motioning towards him. "So you're telling me that the only way you'll even consider taking the proper steps to deal with a situation like this is if she does something else? Like what, handcuff herself naked to your kitchen cabinet?"

"I'm not happy about you putting that image into my head, but I'm not disappointed either," Tucker murmured.

"You know that's not what I meant." Danny ignored his friend's comment and continued arguing with Sam, who wasn't understanding his logic. "How is a restraining order a proper step? If I get one, she's probably going to just start harassing Tucker. This is why I didn't want you guys involved in my mess."

Sam shot him an expression of mild irritation and started pacing towards him. "A restraining order is a proper step because this girl broke into your house." She stopped before him and folded her arms. "We're your best friends. Any mess you're involved in is going to involve us regardless, but we want to be there for you during it."

"She didn't break in." He sighed and dramatically motioned around his room. "There's no actual sign of forced entry. My parents must have let her in or something."

Tucker cleared his throat and lazily lifted his index finger, almost like he was afraid to step into the couple's quarrel. "Your spare key wasn't where it usually is when we tried to get in earlier." And then Sam started laughing.

"She didn't break in. She just walked in with your key." She shook her head and shifted her weight onto her right foot, not at all affected by the glower Danny was now flashing her. "I've told you numerous times to change the hiding spot. Under the doormat? Really? We can't even be surprised that she did this."

"You two are my only friends," he replied defensively. "How was I supposed to know someone was going to stop by with the intention of trespassing?"

"You're not supposed to know that." She took a seat at the edge of his bed and uncrossed her arms. "You're just supposed to be prepared for it, and having your spare key hidden right by the door wasn't being prepared for it."

"And having your house protected against ghosts more than burglars isn't being prepared for it either," Tucker pitched. "If you won't tell your parents, at least convince them to install a home security system, or even just security cameras."

Sam pinched the back of Danny's shirt with her fingers and gently pulled him down beside her on the bed. Once he sat, she moved her arm around him and rubbed his shoulder. "If you won't go through with the restraining order, which I still highly recommend, then please do the security system and the class changing thing. I'm seriously worried about your safety."

He glanced back and forth between her and Tucker, definitely considering the idea. The thought of him having to go through anything as deep as a restraining order scared him because that meant the situation was growing much more serious. On the other hand, convincing his parents to install a home security system and switching his classes seemed like a better approach.

He chose to do the latter option first. The very next morning at school, he swung by his guidance counselor's office. He had to sit and wait outside of the room for a few minutes because there were already a few people lined up to see the same counselor as well. Eventually, it was his turn to enter the room, so he rose from his seat and walked inside.

"Uh, good morning." His greeting to the counselor was shaky, but he was expecting to be nervous because he never had to switch his classes for personal reasons before. "You're the eleventh grade guidance counselor, right?"

"Correct." The woman glanced up from her computer and motioned to the empty chair in front of her desk. "Please, have a seat. What is your name, young man?"

"Danny Fenton." He lowered himself down into the chair and set his backpack on the floor beside him. "Danny's short for Daniel."

"Well, Danny, my name is Mrs. Williams and I am your eleventh grade guidance counselor." She leaned forward in her seat and folded her hands together on top of the desk. "What can I do for you today?"

"I was wondering if I could switch my third and fourth period class. You know, get different teachers." He realized that the way he worded his sentence made it sound like he hated his teachers, but before he could elaborate, Mrs. Williams furrowed her brows and cut him off politely.

"Why?" Her demeanor switched faster than a traveling bullet; from cheerful to concerned within a split second. She spread her palms out on the desk and blinked twice. "What seems to be the issue?"

Danny raised his hands a bit, casting the woman a frown. "No, it's not an issue with any of my teachers." Her shoulders wilted as she relaxed and leaned back in her seat, waiting for him to explain his story. "It's more of an ongoing issue with a classmate of mine, and she so happens to be in both my third and fourth period."

"Is the conflict resolvable? Because I cannot issue any schedule changes after two weeks from the start of school and it's been well over four months." Her eyes drifted past him and onto an older man that was standing behind him and calling for her attention. "Excuse me. I'll be right back."

She rose up from her seat and moved around the desk, following the man out of the room afterwards. Danny twisted his upper body to the side and watched them depart for a few seconds before turning back around and gazing around the room. He really didn't know what to do besides awkwardly sit there and wait for Mrs. Williams to return.

"Melissa, you have Alyssa Cohen in your fourth period class, right?" At the sound of the familiar masculine voice, he looked over his shoulder, frowning when he saw his third and fourth period teachers standing together and conversing. He found it slightly ironic that they were both present when he was currently trying to switch out of their class.

"I do. Why do you ask?" Mrs. Reyes pressed her lips to the rim of her plastic cup and took a long sip of her coffee. Danny recognized the mentioned full name as the same signature that was written on his mirror by Alyssa yesterday, so as he listened in on the adults, he narrowed his eyes.

"There's a strong possibility that she won't be returning here. Her mother called the school yesterday and said something about withdrawing her." His fourth period teacher, Mr. Austin, scratched his chin and continued. "That's what Susan told me. Just don't expect her to be in your class today or whenever you have her."

Mrs. Reyes rolled her eyes and moved her cup of coffee away from her lips, setting it down on the counter. "This is probably the seventh parent to withdraw their child from this school because of the amount of ghosts there are around here. It's no shocker that Amity Park is haunted. Lady should've really done her research first."

Danny really wanted to pry more information out of his teacher, and he was just about to until he heard the clacking of high heels. Mrs. Williams popped into view then, pulling the corners of her lips back to smile at the two teachers as she walked past them. They waved in return and, upon seeing him sitting there, greeted him briefly while backing out of the room.

"Sorry about that, Mr. Fenton." The woman took her seat again and retained her grin, which was a little too wide and enthusiastic for someone to have at seven-thirty in the morning. "Now, where were we? Ah, yes, your schedule—"

"Is completely fine. Don't worry about it." Danny stood up from his seat and grabbed his backpack. Mrs. Williams looked puzzled, so he held up a hand and returned a smile of his own. "The conflict with that specific student is resolvable, so I'll handle it on my own. I have to go now before my English teacher chews me out for being late."

And then he was out of there, shuffling into the hallway after quietly shutting the office door. After he spun around, however, he found himself face-to-face with Sam and Tucker, who were both staring at him expectantly.

"Well, I have good news and bad news." He fixed his face to look as bummed out as possible, inwardly chuckling to himself once their hopeful expressions sank. "Bad news is that I can't switch out of any of my classes. The school apparently has a policy that states nobody can change their classes anytime after two weeks from the start of school."

Sam leaned her head back and groaned distressfully. "That's so stupid." She glanced over at Tucker, who looked equally upset, before looking back at Danny. "Then what's the good news? There can't possibly be any."

"Good news is that I don't need to switch out of my classes because Alyssa apparently doesn't go here anymore." He tried to resist smiling, but it was difficult to do so when Sam and Tucker's faces brightened. Their happiness was worth everything, and to witness it again after all the recent drama meant the world to him.

With a wide grin, Sam exclaimed, "That's amazing! How do you know that for sure, though?" His eyes roamed around the area before he answered, checking to make sure his teachers weren't around to hear him. When the coast was clear, he lifted his shoulders into a shrug and lowered his voice.

"I overheard my third and fourth period teachers talking about it. Mr. Austin said Alyssa's mom called the school and pulled her out, which is probably why she left early yesterday."

"I honestly can't say I'm disappointed to hear that." Tucker's arm raised and his gaze fell to his watch with a brief hum. "Well, sorta like Alyssa, I'm leaving this conversation early to go to class. See you guys later."

"Later."

"Bye."

After Danny and Sam bid their best friend goodbye and watched him walk away, they turned to face each other. "I really hope your story checks out, Danny boy." Sam extended her hand out to his shoulder and playfully gave it a light shove, smiling again once he laughed. "I don't like feeling like I'm competing for my own boyfriend. I pretty much had enough of that before we even started dating."

He flashed her his best enticing smirk and took her hand into his. "Trust me, there was never any competition. Sure, I've liked some people, but I've only ever loved you." She hummed dubiously and craned her head in another direction. "What? I'm serious, and to prove it, I'm taking you to class. I know that'll make me late for my own, but detention is worth it if I get to hold your hand and walk you to class simultaneously."

"You tried it, hotshot. You and I both know you don't want detention, especially not from Lancer, and don't say you can give him an excuse." She leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to his for a quick second. He wanted to kiss her for a minute longer, but he knew she was right about him not wanting detention.

"See you at lunch, Sammy." He tried to be slick with using his favorite nickname for her, but as soon as she clenched her fist and took a step towards him, he spun over his shoulder and rushed down the hallway. "I was just kidding! Bye!"

* * *

The rest of Danny's school day went by perfectly without Alyssa there. He didn't have to worry about feeling like she was watching him the way he usually felt during third period, which was a huge relief. He finally felt like he could start relaxing and be his normal self again.

Except after school.

He and Tucker were about to walk home together without Sam because again, her parents were planning on picking her up. He wasn't sure if they were just doing that so he couldn't walk with her or if they genuinely felt as though it was safer to come and get her themselves.

She always waited for them closer to the community bus stop rather than directly in front of the building because the campus was always crowded after the bell rang. As Danny and Tucker were walking down the sidewalk and away from the school, they spotted her a few feet away. They called out to her, but because she was listening to music and looking down at her cell phone, she didn't hear or see them. Just as they started to head over to her, it happened.

A white Nissan Altima came barreling around the corner, tires squealing as the vehicle swerved onto the same sidewalk that Sam was standing on. While she was oblivious to what was going on, bystanders were not and instantly jumped out of the way. She didn't notice what was happening until she saw someone beside her leap out of the way from the corner of her eye. That's when she yanked out her headphones and snapped her head to the left just in time to see the vehicle flying towards her.

"Sam, no!"


	14. Chapter Fourteen: I Promise

**Chapter Fourteen**

"Sam, no!"

Fear is what clouded Danny's mind as he bolted forward. His stomach was churning and his heart was hammering wildly in his chest as the vehicle accelerated down the sidewalk. He had to get to Sam before the car did, but because it was closer to her than he was, there was no way he was going to reach her in time, even if he went ghost.

Just before the vehicle struck her, however, somebody knocked her out of its path. As they both tumbled to the ground, the car swerved back onto the road and narrowly avoided Danny, who probably would've gotten hit if it kept moving straight down the sidewalk.

"Quick! Somebody get the plate number!" a random bystander shouted as she followed after the vehicle, which was now continuing down the street and away from the scene. Several people sprinted after the car as instructed, but Danny and Tucker both ignored them and raced over to where Sam was.

She was sitting upright on the ground and burying her face in her hand, groaning loudly. The guy who pushed her out of harm's way was now on the phone, apparently calling the police. Danny and Tucker squeezed their way through the large crowd of people to get to the center, and after they did, they fell to their knees beside her.

"Sam? Look at me." Danny kept his voice calm and soft, as though he were talking to a small child instead of his girlfriend. She obeyed and raised her head, but when he caught sight of her face, his eyes widened. "Shit."

Blood was leaking from her nose and dripping down to her lips. Aside from that, she didn't appear injured anywhere else. A young woman was next to her, instructing her to pinch her nose shut and lean her head forward. She did as she was told while everyone else surrounding her started murmuring to each other.

"Oh my god. Did the car actually hit you?" Tucker slammed his eyelids shut as soon as he saw her bleeding. Blood reminded him of hospitals, and that wasn't an image he was trying to put into his own head.

"No. That guy accidentally elbowed my nose when he fell on top of me," she answered. Danny frowned and rubbed her knee in a circular motion, eyeing her warily as her nose kept bleeding. He wanted so badly to just catch up with the driver of that vehicle and give them a piece of his mind, but he or she was long gone now.

"Did anybody get a good look at the driver?" He was hoping someone could at least describe the person behind the wheel to compensate for the absence of the vehicle's license plate number, but unfortunately, everybody shook their heads.

"The windows looked like they were tinted, so it was hard to catch anything," Tucker answered. "The car was going so fast that if anybody did write down anything from the plates, they most likely didn't catch all of what was there."

Danny fell silent for the next several minutes until he heard sirens blaring in the distance, which gradually drew closer as the seconds rolled by. Before he knew it, an ambulance truck pulled up, followed by two police cars. He and about three other people helped Sam up and led her over to the ambulance while some of the remaining bystanders waited to speak with an officer.

After he practically delivered her to the awaiting paramedics, he started to walk back over to Tucker, who was chewing his lower lip and narrowing his eyes. "Whoever was driving that car had Sam locked in as a target. They were driving out of control until she got knocked out of their path, and that's when they started driving normally. This was intentional."

Danny's brows rose and he hummed once. There was only one person that came to mind when he thought of who would do something like that, but he didn't want to believe the person was that sick in the head to pull something like that.

"You don't think it could've been Alyssa, do you?" He looked to the street, where Sam's parents were rolling up their car behind the ambulance. As soon as they parked there, they both flew out of the vehicle and dashed over to Sam. He was certain they were going to bombard the poor paramedics with questions about the incident that they barely knew the answer to yet.

"I actually don't think Alyssa did this." Tucker jammed his hands into his pockets and focused his attention onto the street. "Sure, this is just as obvious as breaking into, or walking into, your house and trashing your room, but I don't think she did this herself. She was probably only involved in it because she mentioned once that nobody in her family owned a car."

"So, what, she hired someone else to do this?"

"I don't know. Maybe, but we probably shouldn't accuse her without evidence because this is a pretty strong accusation."

Danny's gaze shifted away from Sam's parents and onto Tucker. "Dude, my hands are still shaking. I could've lost her just like that. If only I was closer to her, then—"

Tucker propped his hand up on the boy's shoulders and shook his head. "I already know you're about to blame yourself, man. Stop. That's not healthy. The car was way too close to her for you to even be able to go ghost and fly there fast enough. If anything, this is her parents fault."

Danny knew he was only kidding and was just trying to make him laugh, but he wasn't in the mood to do so. The image of the vehicle flying straight towards Sam kept replaying in his head. He could only imagine what would've happened if that bystander didn't pull her out of the way in time.

Eventually, he left for his house with Tucker after realizing that her parents weren't going to let them near her at that moment. He was definitely going to visit her later; that is, if her parents and grandmother weren't surrounding her along with a dozen nurses her mother probably hired.

He sat in the kitchen with Tucker, his right leg bouncing up and down and his forefinger rapidly tapping the surface of the table. Maddie was in the kitchen with them as well, busily fixing dinner and washing dishes. She didn't seem to notice that her son was on edge, but Tucker did.

He hunched towards Danny and lowered his voice to a whisper. "If you really think Alissa did this, now might be a good time to talk to your mom about that security system." He leaned away as Danny's eyes lit up and he straightened his posture.

"Hey, mom, can I talk to you about something?" He wasn't planning on explaining Alissa to his mother quite yet, but much like his Phantom secret, time would reveal the truth. "It's nothing that serious," he added when Maddie raised an eyebrow and practically dropped one of the dishes into the sink.

"Oh, then go ahead, dear." She turned back to the sink and retrieved the dish before continuing to drag the sponge over it. She was waiting for him to say something, but when he didn't, she asked, "Everything okay, Danny?"

"Yeah, I was just wondering," he paused and clasped his hands together, glancing over at Tucker for a second, "if we could get a security system installed here. You know, a real one that detects forced human entry instead of forced ghost entry."

"Amity Park is already a danger zone because of all the evil ghosts lurking around, but your house is already protected from them, so why not secure yourselves even more from any evil _people_ lurking around?" Tucker smiled confidently and lifted his head a bit. "After that whole Disasteroid incident, most people aren't afraid of ghosts anymore, so it's only a matter of time before the crime rates by humans start skyrocketing."

Danny's mouth almost fell open in surprise when Maddie stopped washing dishes and started to hum, seriously considering Tucker's pitch. He persuaded her so casually, which was something he himself was never able to do.

"That makes sense." She inserted some of the dishes into the dishwasher, still humming thoughtfully. "Well, I don't see why not. That might actually be a good idea. We've spent so much time ghost-proofing this house that we didn't even think about protecting it against burglars."

Tucker nodded slightly and tapped his fingertips together. "Because, Mrs. Fenton, only in Amity Park are ghosts more common than burglars, but that can change at anytime." He glanced over at Danny and smirked. "Why not be prepared for it?"

"You're absolutely right." Maddie paused in placing the dishes into the dishwasher and twisted around, quirking an eyebrow and crossing her arms. "What suddenly spurred this idea on, though? Did something happen?"

"Yeah." Danny was quick to swoop in because he didn't know what crazy thing Tucker was going to come up with. He brought his hand to the back of his neck and rubbed it sheepishly. "I, uh, may have lost my spare key outside somewhere and I don't know who has it. I don't think the fact that it says 'Fentonworks' on it is going to help either."

Maddie gasped out and moved her hand to her chest. "Oh, no! Why didn't you say anything?" She walked briskly towards the house phone, murmuring something about needing to change the locks as soon as possible. The boys looked to each other for a second before grinning and sharing a fist-bump.

"No more Alyssa means that we can finally relax." Tucker paused briefly and frowned. "Well, apart from that whole mystery car situation earlier."

"Don't mention it. It's still pissing me off." Danny's grin faded as he rose from the table and locked his wrists behind his back. "Let's just be thankful that she only made it out with an unintentional nosebleed. It could've been much worse."

The fact that it could've been much worse terrified him, but he tried his best not to think about it. That moment with Sam scared him more than Dan ever did, which definitely meant something. He hated feeling so helpless when his loved ones were in danger, and that's exactly how he felt during that situation.

He visited her later that night like he planned. Luckily for him, her parents weren't there, as they went to the store to purchase things they felt as though she needed for some reason. Leave it to Jeremy and Pamela to treat a simple, accidental nosebleed like it was a serious illness.

"They want me to miss school tomorrow and everything," Sam told Danny, who laughed in response. She was sitting upright on her bed with her lower body tucked beneath her favorite purple blanket. "Even though they said they were going to the store, I have a sneaking suspicion that they're actually hunting down the person who was driving that car."

"I should've just gone ghost and flew after them, but I had bigger things, or people, to worry about." He smiled faintly and patted her knee. Her cheeks scorched, but she didn't bother to conceal it this time. "I'm just glad you're okay. Tuck and I tried calling out to you."

"Sorry about that. Blasting my music when I'm alone has always been a bad habit of mine." She looked towards her room door and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess that stops now. It almost cost me my life. I hope the police catch whoever that was driving like a maniac." Danny nodded his head once at her.

"They will, Sam. Don't worry." Her gaze lifted from the door and onto him. He puffed up his chest and flexed his arms, attempting to look big and tough. "If they don't, though, I surely will."

She chuckled softly at his macho act and lightly poked his chest with her finger, pretending to deflate it like it was a balloon. "Oh, stop." His body wilted, but his smile remained intact. "I guess this shouldn't be such a surprise considering we've all almost died plenty of times."

"Yeah, but this time, what happened wasn't caused by a ghost." He froze for a second before a dark expression swept onto his face. He lifted his hands and waggled his fingers menacingly. "Or was it?" She rolled her eyes at him and gently shoved him down onto the bed. "Kidding. By the way, my mom approved the security system, and she's even changing the locks."

"Really?" She puffed out her lower lip and slowly nodded her head. "I'm pleased to hear that. How did you convince her?"

"I didn't. Tucker did." Danny cracked his knuckles and leaned upright again, smiling when Sam's eyebrows rose questionably. "Long story. I basically told her that I lost my spare key somewhere outside, and because it says Fentonworks on it, she wants to change the locks so nobody can try to get in. I didn't tell her Alissa took the key, though."

"Not a complete lie, but not the complete truth." Her expression fell serious and she downcast her gaze for a few seconds. "So, does that mean all of this Alissa drama is finally over?"

Though he really wasn't sure if it was, Danny nodded his head and smiled gently at her. "Yes, I promise."


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Challenge Accepted

**Author's Note: This chapter is much shorter than the rest of them were, but guys, you might want to stay tuned for the next chapter... all I'm going to say is that shit's about to go down. :)**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifteen**

Danny's lashes swept upward as his eyelids slid open. He blinked a few times and briefly squeezed his eyes shut, trying to adjust his vision to the dark room he was waking up in. He felt around the bed for his cell phone to check the time, and after finding it, he pressed a small button on the side of the device to brighten the screen.

12:28 a.m.

He heard the faintest sound of light snoring coming from somewhere beneath him. That's when he remembered something; he was in Sam's room before he fell asleep. He left earlier and waited for her parents to get back, and after they finally went to bed, he came back over and lounged in her bed with her.

He figured he most likely crashed before her because he recalled her being on her laptop when he first announced that he was getting sleepy. Anything that happened after that was a blur to him, but he guessed she fell asleep shortly after he did.

He leaned upright and stood from the bed, trudging towards her nightstand and feeling around for the switch to her lamp. He clicked it once and slightly squinted as the decent amount of light illuminated a fraction of the room. As he craned his head to the right, however, a small smile formed on his lips.

Sam was asleep and curled up on her side, tucked underneath the same cozy purple blanket she had with her earlier. He placed his knee on the bed and slowly leaned over, trying to reduce the amount of noise the mattress was producing. He then kissed the top of her head gently and brushed a few strands of her hair away from her face.

After positioning himself upright again and transforming into his ghostly half, he phased through her bedroom window and flew up into the sky. Because he was still feeling a bit somnolent, the wind uncomfortably stung his eyes as he drifted through the air, so once he reached a certain distance from his house, he decided to just walk the rest of the way.

As he plodded down the sidewalk, a hand firmly grasped his shoulder. Startled, he flinched and whipped around, not exactly sure who he was expecting to be standing there. It was so late that he didn't know anyone who was walking around the streets, and since his ghost sense didn't go off, he was positive it wasn't a ghost.

To his great irritation and surprise, Alyssa was standing there. She wore a black hoodie with the hood tugged over her head, but he could see that her hair was a complete mess underneath it. Her bloodshot eyes were ringed with red, giving him the impression that she was either really exhausted or was just out there doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing.

"I should've guessed it was you." He rolled his shoulder away from her and glared at her softly. "You know, you have a really bad habit of harshly grabbing someone's shoulder when you want their attention."

She clutched the sides of her head and growled lowly, which frightened him a bit at first. She already looked terrifying, so that sound made him think she was about to turn into a werewolf. "I don't know what to do, Danny. I feel like I'm losing my mind." Her hands lowered and she lifted her head, piercing her dark eyes into his. "I've tried doing things to keep myself busy, but my mind won't focus on anything or anyone other than you. I can't eat or sleep the way I used to."

He truly didn't know how to respond to her. He never thought that someone like him would have such a huge impact on another person's well-being, especially when he wasn't trying to. However, this was the same girl who may or may not have had something to do with the incident earlier that injured his girlfriend, so it was a little difficult for him to feel sympathy for her at the moment.

"I really don't know what to say to you, Alyssa." He honestly didn't; he was never really good at comforting people. "You should really work on your mental health. It's more important than you think. Your source of happiness shouldn't come from anybody, especially not me."

"But you're the only thing in this world that makes me feel good about myself." She started walking forward, but with each step she took, Danny stepped backwards until his back touched the brick wall behind him. "Please leave Sam and be with me. I promise I can make you so much happier than she does. Just give—"

"For what feels like the millionth time I've said this, no." His voice was so sharp and stern that she flinched and moved her head back. He didn't feel an ounce of regret for snapping on her because he had tried being nice to her at first, but she never listened to him. She always took advantage of his kindness, so he was reduced to being curt with her.

She glanced down at her feet for a few seconds, twisting the corners of her mouth to the side before looking back up at him with a dark expression. "You can't say you feel nothing at all for me. We had a real connection, something special. You even told me I was pretty the first week of school."

"I didn't exactly tell you that. I was more so describing the type of stereotype that fits you, but—"

"It doesn't matter how you meant it! You still said it." A single tear slipped from her eye and slid down her cheek, but Danny knew the only reason she was crying was because she couldn't handle rejection. "If I'm pretty, why won't you give me a chance? What's wrong with me?"

A small part of him wanted to tell her that everything was wrong with her, but he chose to keep his genuine thoughts to himself. "There's nothing wrong with you." He took a few tiny steps to the side so that he was no longer directly face-to-face with her. "Just because I unintentionally complimented you once in August doesn't mean there's anything going between us."

"But there has to be something wrong with me. I'm a beautiful girl. What straight guy doesn't want to have sex with a beautiful girl?"

"I don't know. Maybe a taken straight guy?" He rolled his eyes at her and exhaled heavily. She wasn't understanding him, no matter how much he tried to break it down for her, so he just decided to be blunt. "I don't want to date you because you're not 'beautiful' or whatever. That's not why. I don't want to date you because I just don't. You're not Sam. She's the girl I want to be with, not you. Period. There's no other way to explain that."

Usually, he would've just stormed off and left the conversation at that, but this time, he remained there and eyed her closely for her reaction. To his confusion, though, she just started laughing. "Okay." Her eyes were watery, as though a single blink would unleash all of the moisture gathered there. "I'm not Sam. You're right. She makes you happy, but the thing about happiness is that it doesn't last forever."

"What do you mean?" It was almost one in the morning, and the last thing he wanted to be doing at that moment was to be standing there and trying to figure out what the hell she was babbling about. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but we're not breaking up anytime soon."

She delivered one last burning glare towards him and scoffed. "Challenge accepted." Her gaze briefly lingered on him before she angrily brushed past him and marched down the sidewalk. He didn't have the time or the patience to deal with her and her strange temper tantrum, so he simply disregarded her and walked home.


	16. Chapter Sixteen: End Of A War?

**Chapter Sixteen**

Alyssa drew a deep breath and poked her head out from the big tree she was concealing herself behind. She had been keeping a close watch on Sam's house for the past hour, thankful that Danny failed to stop by and catch her in the act. She didn't really have a proper excuse thought up as to why she would be lingering around out there.

She wasn't sure what time it was because she didn't bring her phone along with her, but with how dark it was outside, she figured it was somewhere around seven or eight o'clock in the evening. It was Monday, which meant that Sam's parents and her grandmother weren't home. She only knew that because Sam mentioned that she's always left home alone every Monday about twice throughout their friendship.

Her family's butler, Sebastian, was there with her this time, though, which is why Alyssa wasn't making a move yet. She'd been rooted to the same spot for awhile and was ready to jump into action, but of course, patience was key. She was waiting for an opportunity to slip inside, but it was difficult because she didn't know the complete layout of Sam's house as well as she knew Danny's.

She couldn't just walk in the way she did at his house because she highly doubted that Sam kept a spare key hidden underneath her doormat the way he did. Her house, or mansion, looked far more complicated to sneak into than his did, so it was a bit of a challenge figuring out how to get inside.

But then, a chance to sneak in was finally bestowed upon her when Sebastian trudged outside several minutes later, hefting two large garbage bags. She pulled herself behind the tree and stood perfectly still as he curved around the front yard and headed right towards the side of the house. She stuck her head out again and chanced a glance up at the building, spotting the light in a room being switched on.

She wasted no time in booking it straight up to the front door after making sure the man was occupied with tossing out the garbage. She twisted the knob and pulled open the door before entering the house and shutting the door, trying to ignore how rapidly her heart was beating after she did so. She took a moment to catch her breath before rushing into the living room and sliding out of view from the front door.

She heard him walk inside about twenty or so seconds after she did. After reaching into her pocket and pulling out a wide slip of paper that she had written something on beforehand, she trained her expression to look as nonchalant as possible before creeping over to the staircase of the house and waiting for him to walk near her, as he was busy in the kitchen at that moment.

She heard the kitchen faucet shut off, and approximately ten seconds after, he exited the kitchen and turned the corner. That's when she pretended she had been simultaneously descending the stairs, and once she looked up at him, a feigned startled expression crossed her face.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to be right down here." She moved her hand to her chest and blew out a small breath of air, still acting as though seeing him really surprised her. He looked extremely baffled and was glancing back and forth between her and the front door. "Oh, no, I've been here for about an hour or two. Don't you remember me?"

"Yes, yes I do." To her pleasure, his body visibly relaxed and he seemed much more relieved. "I didn't even notice that Samantha came downstairs at some point to answer the door for you whenever you first knocked or rang the doorbell. I must have been outside or upstairs somewhere. My apologies."

"Nah, you're good." She handed him the wide piece of paper she had been holding with a slight smile. "Anyway, she told me to give you this." He accepted it and instantly looked it over, brows furrowing for a second. "She wants you to run to that one specific store on North Shore Drive and fetch her all of the things on that list."

His eyes roamed along the paper with a hum before he nodded and looked over at her. "Certainly. I'll try to be back in a jiffy." But Alyssa knew he wouldn't be back anytime soon because she made sure the location of the store he was going to was the one that was a forty minute drive away from the house.

She waited until he gathered his car keys and his coat before she started walking him to the door. "Okay, drive safe. Remember, there's no rush." As soon as he stepped outside, he turned around to say something, but she shut the door in his face and locked it. Then, she turned around and eyed the staircase, figuring she should familiarize herself with the areas of importance first before taking any course of action.

Meanwhile, Danny was lounging on his bed and talking on the phone with his sister, Jazz. Well, more like she was talking to him and he was just barely listening to her. He tuned her out sometime during her theory about dreams, losing himself in his own thoughts.

"Danny? Are you even listening to me?" her raised voice rang out through the phone, instantly snapping him back to reality. He winced and held the phone away from his ear, sighing sharply before reverting it to its original position.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm listening." He briefly glared up at the ceiling before closing his eyes. He wanted to hang up on her and go to sleep because he had a horrible day, but she insisted that they talk and catch up for awhile. Any other day he would've been glad to, but that particular night, he wasn't up for conversation.

"Are you okay? You sound upset about something." She sounded concerned, which was expected from a big sister. "Did something happen? You know you can tell me anything."

"Well..." He leaned upright in his bed and opened his eyes again. He chose to fill her in on the entire situation with Alissa because the argument he had with her last week was now eating him up. "There's this girl named Alissa who was in my third and fourth period class at school. Long story short, she's obsessed with me and doesn't respect my relationship with Sam, so I cut her off, but now she's more persistent than ever to be with me."

Jazz fell silent for several seconds before replying, "Wow. That would actually make a really good thriller movie. What has she specifically been doing that makes you feel like she's obsessed with you?"

"Tucker had a party for his sixteenth birthday and when I went into the bathroom at his house, she followed me inside and started sexually harassing me. The same thing happened when I went to the movies with her, Sam, and some dude. It's like every time I reject her, she advances on me more roughly."

"And you haven't told mom or dad about this?"

"Nope, but there's more." He lowered himself back down onto the bed and inhaled deeply. "She's been making threats and telling me that I'll regret rejecting her and whatnot. She, uh, _somehow_ got into the house and totally trashed my room. She even wrote on my bathroom mirror with lipstick, but Sam and Tuck helped me clean everything up. Unfortunately, that's not the worst part."

"Holy crap," Jazz replied. "You mean there's something worse than that?"

"Yeah. Last week, some maniac was driving a car and almost hit Sam with it. Whoever it was seemed to be targeting her, but I'm not sure if Alyssa had anything to do with that or not. We had an argument sometime after that incident where she was crying about not being able to eat or sleep because she keeps thinking about me. I turned her down again and she angrily said something about accepting a challenge."

"That almost sounds like codependency without the relationship. You don't owe this girl anything, you know. She sounds dangerous and you really need to report her to the police."

"Funny. That's exactly what Sam suggested." His brows pulled together and he draped his right arm across his stomach. "Well, she mentioned a restraining order, but I guess reporting works, too."

"I'm surprised you didn't act on it sooner. This girl is quite obviously displaying incessant signs of neurotic behavior and clearly has no regards for your relationship. In fact, with everything you've told me, I would highly suggest you keep a close eye on Sam until you contact the authorities."

"Sam's fine," he insisted, though the complete opposite feeling was settled inside of his chest. Alyssa and Sam weren't close, so there was no indication that Alyssa wouldn't hurt her. The more he thought about it, the more his concern for her grew. "I'll just call her and check on her real quick. Be right back."

He dialed in Sam's number and started the call, putting Jazz on hold and waiting for an answer. Each time the phone rang, his heart sank a bit more. By the time her phone went to voicemail, his heart was already in his stomach. He rang her again, but it did the same thing, so he hung up and returned the call to Jazz.

"She's not answering. What should I do?" His tone was urgent, but he could practically hear the eye roll in Jazz's voice when she responded to him.

"Relax yourself, Danny. She's a big girl. You know she can take care of herself."

"I know she can, and that's exactly why I'm worried. If something's happening, she's not going to tell me about it right away." He pushed himself up from his bed and made a beeline for his dresser. "I'm going to swing by her house and see if everything's okay."

"Wait. You need to tell mom and dad first. I know you probably want to keep this a secret from them, but they need to know what's going on in order to protect you in the future. I get you're half ghost, but don't forget you're half human, too."

He paused in what he was doing before sighing and nodding, which he knew was pointless because she couldn't see him. "Okay. I'll tell them.

* * *

Sam rhythmically tapped her pen against her notebook while looking down at her English textbook and listening to music from her laptop. Since she was home alone, with the exception of her family's butler, she decided to blast some music in the comfort of her own room.

She was just in the middle of jotting down some notes when the power in the house cut out. She simply sat there for several seconds, puzzled as to what could've went wrong. Something like that never happened when she was home without her parents, so she wasn't really sure what to do next.

"Sebastian?" She waited for a response before trying again, raising her voice a bit higher this time when she didn't receive one. "Sebastian!" Nothing. With a long sigh, she dropped her pen onto her notebook and paused her music. She heard her cell phone vibrating from her computer desk, so she quickly walked over to it and grabbed it.

Before she even had a chance to glance down at the phone's screen, she heard a loud crash coming from somewhere downstairs. Her hand flew over her mouth as she jumped and snapped her head towards her room door, or at least where she thought it was.

"Sebastian?" she tried again, much more loudly this time. When she still didn't get an answer, she quickly declined the call and turned on her phone's flashlight. She didn't know why he wasn't answering her if he was supposedly downstairs, but that's what she was about to figure out.

After shining the flashlight around her room, she reached out for the door knob and swung her door open. Her house seemed ten times creepier when it was uncontrollably dark and silent, not to mention lonely. She knew she was a creature of the night and all, but she still felt a little paranoid.

She searched around downstairs, but Sebastian was nowhere to be found. She started to feel more curious than concerned; where would he be? She thought he went outside, but when she got to the front door, she saw that it was locked. Unless he suddenly just left her there, he should've still been inside the house.

"Sebastian? Why aren't you answering me?" She was starting to feel irritated, and that feeling only grew each time she didn't receive a response from him. She then remembered the crashing noise she heard, so she started looking around the living room and the kitchen for the source.

She found her mother's now broken lamp resting on the living room floor, which surprised the hell out of her. Sebastian wouldn't just leave a mess around the house without informing her or her parents about it and then cleaning it up. He completely skipped out on both of those actions, so she decided to find him before her mother got home and found him herself.

She lit some candles first, placing one in the kitchen and one in the living room. She wanted to fully look around the downstairs area for him before making her way upstairs to continue her search. She shuffled towards the back door that led to the backyard, hoping he was out there. The door was unlocked, so she pushed it open and glanced around the yard.

Nothing.

"Where the heck could he be?" she murmured to herself. She felt like she was playing hide and seek, but it seemed like the person who was hiding was getting up and switching their hiding spot each time she drew closer to them. She spun on her heels and briskly walked back into the house, suppressing another sigh.

She assumed he wasn't anywhere downstairs, so once she stepped into the living room, she turned and went straight up the stairs. With how perplexed she was, she could feel her head starting to pound, so she fixated her gaze on her cell phone and dialed in her father's phone number.

Before she could press the button to send out the call, she heard a familiar voice that made her blood run cold. "Hi, Sam." As soon as her head jerked up, her eyes darted to Alyssa, who seized her and practically threw her against the wall. Her cell phone fell to the floor, but the flashlight provided enough light so that she was able to make out the knife Alyssa was charging at her with.

She hastily twisted to the side so that the knife plunged into the wall instead of her. Thinking fast, she grabbed a wide picture frame from the wall and swung it at her, smashing it against the side of her head. She gasped out in pain and collapsed, but as Sam tossed down the picture frame and started to bolt in the opposite direction, she felt Alyssa grasp her leg and tug on it. As a result, she toppled to the floor.

Her palms shot forward to break her fall, which she was thankful for because that action prevented her chin from roughly contacting the floor. She had little time to dwell on it, though, as Alyssa was swift to retaliate by piercing the knife into her ankle. She yelped and instinctively drew her opposite leg up, sharply extending it outward and kicking the girl directly in her face.

Once the pressure around her leg released, she figured Alyssa let her go, so she forced herself to stand up. As soon as she rose to her feet, a sharp pain shot up her leg from her ankle, causing her to wince and hiss in pain. Despite that, she rushed downstairs towards the front door. She struggled to unlock it at first because it was still mostly dark down there and she couldn't see, but when she finally got it, she couldn't help but glance over her shoulder.

And she was so glad that she did.

Right after she looked back, she saw Alyssa sprinting towards her with her knife brandished in the air. She gasped and ducked, which resulted in the weapon missing her completely and impaling the door instead. She moved upward and curled her fingers around Alyssa's arm, slamming it harshly against the wall. Her grasp on the knife loosened immediately as she cried out, but Sam showed her no mercy and punched her in the stomach before shoving her down onto the floor.

She kicked the knife away from Alyssa's reach just as the girl slowly rose to her feet. Her face looked awful; she was bleeding from her forehead and her nose, but her stance clearly indicated that she was still ready for a fight. "You don't deserve him, you know. You've never treated him the way I could." She took a few steps forward and flexed her fingers. "This could all be over if you just let me have him."

"You know, I don't know what your problem is, but I'm going to guess that it's hard to pronounce." Sam rolled her neck to the side, stretching it out and narrowing her eyes. "I'm usually not the type of girl who controls who my loved ones get to be with, but I will never let Danny be with someone like you."

Alyssa didn't seem pleased with that answer at all, but she couldn't take immediate action because Sam dashed past her. She picked up a water bottle that was sitting on the table near the door and popped the cap open. She followed after Sam as she ascended the stairs, but when she reached a certain part of the staircase, she flung the water bottle over the railing and smirked as it fell to the floor.

Sam slipped over the freshly spilled liquid and slid to the floor, smacking the back of her head against the hard flooring. She clenched her eyelids shut and groaned as her head started to throb. It wasn't a sharp pain, but more of a dull pounding type of pain. Unfortunately for her, Alyssa caught up to her and laced her fingers through her hair, forcing her to stand up by tugging on it.

"You're pathetic." Alyssa drew her fist back and lunged it forward, punching Sam right in the side of her face near her eye. She quickly did it a second time before Sam shielded her face from another hit and swung her elbow into the girl's mouth. That didn't hinder her, despite the fact that her lip started bleeding. She simply dragged Sam over to the upstairs railing near the staircase and pushed her against it, trying to throw her over it.

"Is this really coming from the desperate girl who tried to beat me up first and still has worse injuries than me?" Sam retorted as she struggled against Alyssa. She took a few baby steps to the left, inching closer to the edge of the railing. She was trying to bait Alyssa into a trap, and with how blind with rage she was, she didn't seem to notice.

"Sam?"

At the faint sound of the familiar voice, Sam's eyes widened. "Danny, quick! I'm in here!" Alyssa wrapped her fingers around her throat and squeezed, still oblivious to how much the Goth underneath her was shifting to the side. The immense pressure on her throat had her drawing small and ragged breaths as she tried to breathe properly.

Then, from behind Alyssa, she saw Danny approaching them quickly. "Sam!" Alyssa craned her head to the side and grinned at him, and Sam used that distraction to her advantage. As soon as they reached the edge of the railing, she pried Alyssa's hands from around her throat and sharply spun around, shoving the girl down the staircase with all of the strength she could muster.

With furrowed brows, she watched her tumble and twist down the stairs, crying out in pain once before coming to a halt at the end of the staircase and falling completely still. Danny rushed towards the railing and peered over it and down at Alyssa for a second before fixating his gaze on Sam.

"God, are you okay?" His eyes raked downward from her head to her feet, noting her swollen left eye, her blood-stained shirt, and her bleeding ankle. "Holy shit. I am so, so sorry." She dismissively waved her hand through the air and opened her mouth to respond, but then her front door was kicked open.

Jack and Maddie entered the house, frantically glancing around the room. Once their eyes adjusted to the dimness and they saw Alyssa lying on the floor, they rushed to her side and knelt down beside her. Maddie checked her pulse as Jack whipped out his cell phone and started to call the police.

"She's still breathing. Danny, is this the girl?" she asked as she looked up at her son, who was still surveying Sam's injuries. After he simply nodded his confirmation, Jack tucked the phone between his ear and his shoulder and whipped out a pair of Fenton handcuffs, slapping them onto Alyssa's wrists.

Though the adrenaline wore off and caused Sam to feel the true pain from her injuries again, she still managed to smile faintly at Danny. "You finally told them, huh?" His lips pressed into a firm line, but he nodded again and gazed into her eyes.

"I should've told them when all of this first started to escalate. If I did, none of this would've happened, so I'm sorry." He carefully lifted her up bridal-style and carried her down the stairs, grimacing when he spotted little specks of blood on some of the steps. "Jeez. I can't even imagine what you went through before I got here."

"Good, because you don't want to. Trust me."


	17. Chapter Seventeen: Ending

**Chapter Seventeen**

"Are you sure you want to go inside, Sammy?" Pamela leaned down and slung her arm around Sam's shoulders, disregarding the glare her daughter flashed her as she did so. "We can always go back to your aunt's house for another week or two if you're still not ready."

"I was never not ready, mom." Sam folded her arms over her chest and shrugged her mother off of her. The woman frowned and positioned herself upright, glancing over at Jeremy. "Don't you guys think you're overreacting a little? That whole incident happened almost three weeks ago."

Jeremy's expression fell flat and he sighed heavily. "It doesn't matter if that happened three weeks ago or three months ago. It shouldn't have happened at all." His face then lit up and his lips rose into a cheerful grin. "No worries, though! Your mother and I will gladly see to it that Alyssa's family never shows their faces around here again."

"Jeez. Isn't that a little harsh? I mean, I enjoy seeing her face justice as much as the next person, but I don't really think her family influenced her actions." Sam lowered her arm and curled her fingers around the handle of her suitcase, tugging it along with her as she began walking forward. "At least I hope not."

Jeremy and Pamela slowly trailed behind her after sharing an inquisitive look. "Well, my offer still stands, honey." Pamela clasped her hands together and smiled faintly. "If you walk back into the house and feel like you can't stomach being there, I will gladly take you back to your aunt's house."

"I never wanted to go there in the first place. I kept insisting that I was more than fine to go back home, but for some reason, you and dad only heard the contrary." Sam stopped walking once she reached the entrance of her house, or mansion. "I appreciate you guys looking out for me, but I'm fine. Please don't coddle me anymore."

Pamela's frown deepened, but rather than responding to her daughter, she merely looked over her shoulder and furrowed her brows at Sebastian, who was struggling to carry her suitcases. "Sebastian, hurry it up! You're still on thin ice."

"Yes, ma'am." Sebastian attempted to quicken his pace as he hefted her luggage, but once he drew closer to her, his arms gave out and he unintentionally dropped her suitcases to the floor. While he launched into profuse apologies, Pamela growled and stomped her foot against the ground.

"Can't you do anything right? What, letting some psychopath slip into our home and attack our daughter wasn't enough?"

With a sharp huff, she spun around and marched into the house after Jeremy unlocked the front door. He stared at her departing form as it grew distant before sympathetically glancing over at Sebastian. Then, he wordlessly followed his wife into the building, leaving Sam alone with Sebastian.

"Ignore her. She's just being her usual overprotective self." Sam took pity on the poor man because he explained to her and her parents numerous times that his absence the night she was attacked wasn't intentional. He even showed them the note Alyssa wrote for him, and while she and Jeremy forgave him, Pamela insisted on holding a grudge.

She knelt down and grabbed one of the fallen suitcases, letting him carry the other one because she was still lugging her own. A thankful smile graced his lips as he rose to his feet again and dusted off his shirt. "She has every right to be upset with me, Miss Manson. I should've checked with you first before leaving like that."

"Please. I'm not mad about that. I'm more mad that she dragged me to my aunt's house and separated me from my friends because she thought I was going through PTSD."

"I see. Still, I'm glad that all is well with you."

"I appreciate that."

They both lapsed into a comfortable silence and continued moving the suitcases into the house. To Sam, walking back inside after the whole incident was a strange feeling that she couldn't quite understand. To currently be standing in the same room where she fought off Danny's crazed, jealous stalker was still a bit surreal to her. She was just grateful that she escaped the situation with her life, stitches, and a shot in her shoulder.

All she wanted to do was move on with her life, but Pamela and Jeremy were making that impossible for her. They both wanted to pursue legal action against Alyssa, which was fine with her at first until they started pushing the matter on her. Sure, they were just being her typical protective parents, but she didn't want or need a constant reminder that she could've lost her life.

As soon as she was discharged from the hospital, Pamela and Jeremy drove her straight to her aunt's house because they thought she couldn't handle going back home so soon. They also started picking her up straight after school, which meant that she wasn't able to hang out with Danny and Tucker the way she always did.

"If you need anything, Samantha, don't hesitate to give your mother and I a shout," Jeremy told her as she ascended the stairs towards her room. "Don't forget about what she told you, either. If you don't feel comfortable here, let us know." She simply answered him with a grunt, not even bothering to spare a glance in his direction.

The house was definitely cleaned up by someone while she was gone, as all of the blood that was on the floors that particular night was now gone. She inwardly rolled her eyes after figuring that Sebastian was the culprit, but probably because Pamela forced him to clean the area. He didn't want to lose his job and she knew that, so she was most likely going to ride the situation until the wheels fell off.

Sam set the two suitcases on the floor of the hallway and then shuffled towards her room. Her door was closed, but she vaguely remembered leaving it open around the time of the attack. She brushed it off and extended her hand outward, placing it onto the knob before twisting it and pushing her door open.

"Surprise!"

Her mouth slightly fell open at the sight of her boyfriend and her best friend standing beside her bed, with "Welcome home!" balloons surrounding them. Plastered on their faces were big, goofy grins that she couldn't help but smile at. She quickly shut her room door and locked it, eagerly rushing over to them.

"Hey, guys." She raised both of her arms and slid them across their shoulders, pulling them closer to her and increasing the size of her smile. "I've really missed hanging out with you both. I mean, I know we see each other during school, but after school is much different."

"Hopefully we can start hanging out with you again now that you're back." Tucker's right arm wrapped around her waist and he looked sideways at her. "You know, assuming that your parents aren't putting you on lockdown again."

"Knowing them, that's exactly what they're going to do." Danny mirrored Tucker's action of moving his arm around her waist, only he leaned over and pecked her cheek afterwards. "Jazz and my mom keep asking about you. You really gave them a scare that night, not to mention me and Tuck as well."

She glanced down to the floor before looking up slowly. "I'm not going to lie and say that it wasn't a scary situation to be in. It was, but I don't want to focus on it anymore." She moved her arm from around Tucker and let it fall back to her side, but her grasp on Danny loosened as she slid her hand to his upper arm. "It happened and it's over. I really, really want to just leave it at that."

"I know, but it's just a really weird and shitty situation." He drew a deep breath and averted his gaze onto Tucker, who nodded his head in agreement. "I'm glad you're okay. I know you hate talking about it, but there's a difference between not wanting to talk about something because it bothers you and not wanting to talk about something because you've moved on from it."

Sam raised an eyebrow and leaned her head to the side a bit. "Did Jazz turn into a ghost and overshadow you? Are you Amorpho?" She lifted the back of her hand and pressed it against his forehead. "You're not running a fever, are you?"

He rolled his eyes at her and lightly swatted her hand away from him with a grimace. "Stop. I'm being serious."

"And so am I. Like I said, I really just want to leave this nightmare in the past where it belongs." She closed her eyes and exhaled softly. "I don't want to give Alyssa the attention she's been seeking. I want all the memories of her to just fade away into nothing."

There was a long pause before anyone spoke again, but before anyone could, there was a swift tapping at the door. "Are you okay in there, darling?" When Jeremy didn't receive an answer from his daughter, his knocking became much more urgent. "Samantha, answer me. Is everything okay in there?"

The girl in question flattened her lips and ground her teeth together before forcing out a false sweet reply. "Relax, dad. I'm okay, just about to go shower." She waited until she heard him traveling away from her room before parting her lips and letting a sigh roll out. "Sorry about that, guys."

Tucker bit the corner of his lip and hummed. "You know, we don't have to talk about Alyssa anymore. She's being dealt with by the authorities, so why don't we just continue on with our lives?"

Sam smiled a bit, but because it looked mostly forced, Danny's hand swallowed hers as he gently grabbed it and his thumb started to caress the top of it. "We aren't letting you move on from this without us. We're coming with you," he said quietly.

She squeezed his hand and looked out at Tucker, who just nodded again. "Exactly. That's what family's for. You'll never go through the hard times alone."

It was in that moment that she was extremely grateful to have them both as her best friends. Alyssa definitely took the three of them for a ride on a roller coaster of emotions, and while there were more downs than ups, it was still a ride that none of them would forget.


End file.
